Uninhabited
by Ravyntree
Summary: "This is mine," Zim was saying. "He belongs to me now..." "Nothing is your's, not anymore,"..
1. Without Roof or Door

'_Learn by doing,'_ Dib thought, an old saying of his dad's, and tightened his grip on the weapon in his hand. He hadn't been out here long, and when he left his home he'd only had time to swipe his backpack and a long kitchen knife. They wouldn't get him far, and he was pushing his luck now, but if all went as he now planned then soon he would be somewhere safe, for at least a little while.

The boy, now the awkward age of seventeen, slipped from behind the tree that had sheltered him the past few minutes and darted across the street under the cover of the moonless night. The souls had been drawing closer and closer to his home, operating out of the downtown and picking off those who ventured there. That was before the humans were aware of them. Before the hopeless war.

His sister, Gaz, was the first to go from his life, and his dad was rarely home as it was that he wasn't sure if he was still out there or not. He held onto the hope of his father's return—real return, not as one of them—but when Gaz didn't come home one day he left. He had been on the run for weeks since, hiding where he could and traveling by night.

Dib now crept along beside the houses in the dark, destroyed neighborhood. Most of the houses had been destroyed in the battle that followed the soul's appearance. His own had escaped mostly unscathed, save for some parts of the roof that had caved in. All around him homes were hollow shells, roofs caved and walls crumbled by bombshells and fires. Regardless, it was good to be back in familiar territory. He had completely left the area, moving north to a smaller, abandoned town.

He traversed his way through backyards and over fences, trying to stick to the most hidden path. He was relieved when Zim's odd house came into view. He paused across the street, in the cover of some brush, and reached behind him to touch the still-healing scar on the back of his neck. He put it there himself, just in case someone saw him. He didn't have the tell-tale silver shimmer to his eyes as happened when a soul inhabited a human's body, and hoped that was enough to keep Zim from slaughtering him. But maybe Zim was in on this whole thing. The thought rooted him to the spot with horror. What if Zim had led them here? Shown them Earth? Dib didn't think the alien would surrender his assigned planet to another species, but what if..

The thought was cut off as something struck his knife-wielding wrist with blinding force. His hand released the blade and Dib recoiled with a stifled cry, spinning quickly to face his attacker. He backed away against the side of the house and held up his bag to shield his body.

Zim stood where he had just a moment ago, watching him through narrowed eyes. He reached down and picked up the knife, never breaking eye contact, and slid it into an empty place on a tool belt he wore. He twisted his grip on the baseball bat he held and looked over Dib.

"Zim!" Dib exclaimed quietly but warily. "What are you doing?" His eyes dragged away from the alien's as he glanced to the sides for an escape.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, just as quietly but with a deathly tone.

Dib turned his head to the side somewhat, not trusting his old enemy. It didn't matter much though; everyone was an enemy here.

"I asked you first."

Zim shifted his weight, keeping Dib cornered against the house but shifting into the shadows a little more. He was wearing a black hoodie over his colorful uniform and PAK, so he fit in well.

"I am patrolling my boarders," he replied darkly. "Making sure none of _you_ are thinking about infringing upon my rights."

"What do you mean, none of you?" Dib asked, furrowing his brows.

"You will not fool me, Seeker." Zim growled, his grip tightening on the bat.

"Zim, I'm not one of them!" Dib frowned deeply, not having a plan for this.

"Dib was smart, but no one can escape your kind," Zim replied. He stepped forward. "Come with me."

Dib slid against the house, away from Zim's threatening presence. He eyed the knife at the alien's belt enviously and turned to run.

Zim growled and ran after him, though he was no match for Dib's long strides. Humans were built for speed, whereas Irkens depended upon their intelligence.

Dib darted around the front of the house and ran up the sidewalk, needing to get away from Zim before he was killed. He could return later, when he had a better plan.

He rounded another corner, slipping on some wood chips and nearly falling but catching his balance at the last moment. Zim was several paces behind, but keeping up rather well for himself. Dib made the mistake of glancing over his shoulder and that's when it went wrong. He felt the wire close around his ankle and pull him off his feet, the world spinning as he fell, and then a sharp pain and harsh cracking sound as the back of his head struck the pavement. He was unconscious before the trap had entirely lifted him off the ground.


	2. Lie in the Sky

Dib opened his eyes slowly, pain burning behind them. His head throbbed with each pulse of his heart and felt as if it were to implode. He saw nothing at first, but soon his vision came, blurred and watery but enough for him to tell it was still night.

His first memory was someone shining a light into his eyes at some point while he was out, the action registered by his brain and saved just for when he awoke.

Someone was speaking, though he couldn't tell what was being said. Another voice replied, a deeper tone but with an irritating grit to it. Zim.

Dib closed his eyes and listened, beginning to understand that he was upside down, apparently suspended by his left ankle. Something burned like hell as it was cutting into his flesh through his boot.

"This is mine," Zim was saying. "I caught him on my territory."

"This planet belongs to us," the other voice argued. "Everything here belongs to us, despite your small patch of land."

"I disagree," Zim growled. "I was here first, and only by decree of _your_ contracts am I allowing you to take over this world."

"0ur contracts, and your leader's permission," the voice said, coming close to an irritated tone. "When are they coming to get you, anyway?"

"They will soon." Zim sighed. "If you hadn't taken my Voot then I would have been gone by now."

"We won't get into that now," they replied in a cheery way. "Now, show me how to get him down from this… thing."

Dib felt himself being lowered and tried not to flinch when his fingers touched the ground. He was lowered nearly all the way onto the ground and the pain constricting his ankle disappeared. His foot prickled fiercely as the blood rushed back to it. Something brushed his head, turning it to the side and then parting the hair on the back of his head.

"He doesn't seem too badly damaged," the stranger voice mused. "I won't tell the others of your mistake, Irken."

Dib cracked his eyes open, his gaze being met by Zim standing beside him. The hands left his head and clothing rustled behind him as someone else stood. He resisted looking, trying to play unconscious as long as possible. Ignorance was best.

"I don't agree with you," Zim said angrily, wrists tucked against his hips.

"It doesn't matter."

Dib's hands were lifted and something tied around his wrists, binding them together. Hands slipped into his coat, jeans, and boots, searching invasively for a weapon. He was uncomfortable and angered by it, but didn't move. His heart was pounding against his ribs so hard he was sure it would give him away, but no one seemed to notice.

He was moved into a sitting position, allowing his head to loll spinelessly, keeping up his act well though he was very tense. The one who had searched him then lifted him, sliding their arms behind his back and under his knee joints. Although he wasn't very heavy to begin with, and lighter still, now that he had been starving the past few weeks, he assumed it was a mature male holding him.

"What will you do with him?" Zim's voice cut through his thoughts.

"What do you care? Does he matter to you?" the voice came from just a short distance above Dib's head.

"No," Zim replied, stepping into Dib's view and looking down at him. "He's just another human."

The Seeker, Dib knew it had to be a Seeker, nodded and turned to walk away. Dib opened his eyes wide now and struggled from their grasp, falling flat on his face on the ground with a grunt. He pushed himself to his knees with his bound hands and looked up at Zim. The alien looked back, his gaze a mix of unreadable emotions. Dib opened his mouth to say something, but a hand closed around the back of his neck, pressing down on the two major arteries leading to his brain. He tried to struggle, but after the recent head trauma he quickly fell back into unconsciousness.


	3. When You Are Fallen

Dib opened his eyes to nothing he wanted to see. He was lying on his back on a table, wrists strapped at his sides. A monitor nearby informed him of his own heart rate, and he took deep breaths to keep it even though panic and fear clawed at the inside of him.

The lights above shining down into his face were nearly blinding, and he turned his face away from then, squinting to look around the room. The back of his head ached when his head rolled, reminding him of what had happened. He closed his eyes when he assured that he was alone in the room and tried to gather his thoughts.

He was in the hands of them, the souls. The aliens.

He was secured to a table.

He was hurt, but not too badly.

Judging by his expression, Zim knew he was not one of them yet, and was obviously not working with them. In fact, he even seemed to resent the Seeker, at least from his tone and words. But Dib couldn't hope for any help from his old enemy.

Someone entered the room, breaking his thoughts, and he kept his eyes closed. They stepped over to him and checked the bandages on the back of his head.

"The swelling has gone down, and the bleeding stopped, but I don't think he's ready for a soul," someone said quietly.

"Yes," another soft voice agreed. "Transfer him to a room. He's stable enough. The souls haven't arrived yet, anyway."

The machine was switched off and hands shifted Dib's shirt out of the way to remove the electrodes. He had to subtly bite his tongue at the uncomfortable sensation, like tearing off a Band-Aid. His table was pushed from the room and he cracked an eye open just slightly to peek at where he was being taken.

They pushed him down a few halls until they reached a separate wing of the human hospital; patient's rooms. His table was pushed next to a bed and he remained silent as his wrists were unstrapped and he was moved onto a soft bed, the scent of creepy-clean all around him.

Dib's wrists were secured to the rails on each side of the bed, his pillow adjusted comfortably beneath his head, and he was left alone in the cool room. He opened his eyes and looked around.

He struggled at his restraints but they held fast. He felt claustrophobic in the spacey room, amidst the souls.

He was contemplating his fate when someone familiar stepped into the room. Dib gasped.


	4. Bright Dog is Dead

****Author's Note** I recently saw the Youtube video 'Kiwi-Mad World 0riginal Version'. I suggest you watch, but not when depressed. It's an eye-opening little clip.**

"Dad!" Dib cried, but it was only a whisper.

"No, Dib, I'm not your father," Membrane, or whatever was in his body, replied kindly. He stepped over to Dib and smiled down at him.

"I know this must be hard for you.."

"Get the hell away from me," Dib snarled, eyes narrowed in fury at the silver gleam in his father's eye. He tried to pull free again.

Membrane frowned and opened his mouth to say something, but someone else stepped into the room behind him. He glanced at her and smiled.

"Healer, how is the host?" she asked, looking at Dib.

"He is healing," Membrane—Healer—replied.

"Good. The souls have arrived early. We have one prepared for him."

He nodded and glanced back at Dib, who stared between the two of them in horror and rage. The woman smiled sweetly at him and stepped forward.

"Don't worry sweetie," she said, her voice dripping with honey. "It won't be so bad. You won't feel a thing."

"Let me go!" Dib snarled still in shock over seeing his father. "Fucking let me go now! I will kill you all, stay away from my body!"

The female frowned and stepped back, exchanging a worried glance with Healer. The Healer stepped over to the counter and took some things out of a drawer there. Dib watches him with growing horror as he filled a syringe with an amber liquid and turned back to him.

"This won't hurt at all," he said as he placed a hand over Dib's arm, holding it still and inserting the needle into the vein in his elbow.

The boy thrashed on the bed, trying desperately to break free. He wasn't even really aware of the tears cascading down his cheeks. His father was dead. How could that be? Dad was always so.. invincible. He was incredible. And now he was dead, and all his memories, his brilliant mind belonged to some.. alien. Some filthy body-snatching creature. Dib wept bitterly as he thought of that creature knowing everything about him.

And now this… This was too much. To be turned to one of them, just like his father..

But at least he himself had nothing to hide. He had no one to defend, no secrets to keep. They would be disappointed in his mind, for that purpose anyway.

Dib fell against the bed in exhaustion shortly after his struggle, panting softly and feeling the strain from the pulled muscles in his shoulder. He closed his eyes and sighed softly as the drug began to take effect, slowing his thoughts and heart. He was screwed, he knew, but there had to be some flaw, some escape route through their system. Something..

His head lolled against the pillow as he fell to unconsciousness.


	5. Is Danger or Treasure

****Author's Note****

**P0V will change a bit in this story, but you should be able to figure it out. I will indicate a shift with a triple atisk (***).**

An unknown amount of time later, Dib opened his eyes foggily. He was still alive. They hadn't even moved him from the room, it seemed. Perhaps something had gone wrong, or the soul wasn't ready.

He sighed and laid back again slowly, staring at the lights above him. There had to be a way out of here..

His slurred thoughts were once again interrupted as the lights suddenly went off, leaving him in darkness. He looked at the door anxiously, hearing the irritatingly calm urgency the souls spoke with as they began moving around quickly, trying to figure out what was happening.

Someone slipped into Dib's room and stepped over to him. They began undoing the straps holding down his wrists.

"What are you doing? What's happened?" he demanded of the soul, barely able to see them in the dim glow of the flood lights shining in through the window from the hall.

"Shut up," she hissed back, freeing his other hand and then beginning on the binds around his legs. Dib sat up and pulled the blanket from himself, tossing it off the bed and waiting for his chance to strike out at this new intruder.

'_Must be a Seeker,'_ he thought as he waited for the last strap to be undone. _'Normal souls don't use such language.'_

The alien finally freed him and stepped back.

"Hurry, come with me," she said, looking out the window anxiously. Dib slid from the bed and stepped over to them, balling a fist to strike her. She whipped around almost instantly, grabbing his raised wrist and pulling it down forcefully.

"Don't, if you want to get out of here alive," she growled, narrowing her eyes. Dib frowned and just nodded, unclenching his fist and swallowing. He could barely see her form in the light, but could tell she was about the same height as him.

She pushed the door open slowly, looking around. The room was mostly cleared; the souls having gone down to the basement to look at the generators and power supplies. The girl, still holding Dib's wrist, darted from the room into the hallway, the human following her closely as he was pulled along. They paused at the end of the hall and she pushed open another door quickly, surprising two souls there. They looked up at the two and stepped towards them.

"Wait, what are you doing?" one asked. They were dressed in doctor's—Healer's—scrubs and coats. The girl pulled a strange gun from a holster around her hips and pointed it at them.

"Get out of the way," she growled and they quickly stepped aside, looks of horror on their faces at the sight of the weapon. She pulled Dib along past them, through the room and into a stairwell. They quickly descended the stairs and burst out into the world just as the lights came back on behind them.

"This way." She pulled him off to one side in the darkness of the night, leading him into a grove of trees and there pausing. Dib slid his hand free of her grasp and panted softly, looking at her.

"Who are you?" he asked warily.

"None of your concern, just keep pace," she replied, trotting off into the darkness, hunched over low. Her hair was reddish-brown and cropped close to her head, her clothing entirely black and form-fitting. In passing under a patch of moonlight, he could see her clearly for one moment and his eyes went straight to the spot on the back of her neck where the scar should be. There was none.

"You're human!" he exclaimed, surprised, as he followed.

"Not exactly," she replied and started to say more, but grabbed his wrist again as voices were heard. She led him away, taking back streets and sticking to the trees as much as possible. They were soon joined by another human, whose appearance startled Dib at first until he was assured she was with the stranger.

Dib followed along silently, relieved to be with other humans but worried about what was happening. He knew the souls would be displeased with this.

They traveled by foot for perhaps an hour or so before they reached their destination; an abandoned Circuit City building in a destroyed rural area north of Dib's own town. He looked up at the building curiously, observing every detail of it just in case he needed to know how to find it.. or escape from it.

He was led inside by the female who had rescued him while the other went ahead. 0nce inside, the dull clamor of voices met him.

"What is this..?" he asked quietly. As the girl led him through the lobby, he noticed that many office desks had been stacked face-up against the windows and other doors, roller chairs poised behind them. He followed the girl into the back where the offices should have been and stopped short at the sight. The dividers that would have once made up small cubicles were all cleared out and the large room was comfortably fit with couches, chairs, tables, and even some bookshelves pushed against the wall, their shelves lined with books, magazines, DVDs, and board games. A couple small TVs paired with DVD players were in one corner. And, most to his surprise, people were gathered all over. At least forty of them, maybe more, playing games, chatting quietly, watching a DVD.

He looked back at the girl and gasped. She was no longer the human he had seen, but was none other than Tak, the Irken Invader he'd had previous encounters with back in grade skool. She had grown substantially; she was nearly as tall as Dib, and he was above average for his age: 6ft even.

"Tak!" he exclaimed, stepping back. She gripped his wrist tighter to prevent him from moving.

"Yes, it is I, Tak," she replied.

"But.. how? Why are you here..?" He frowned deeply, confused and suddenly very distrusting of the situation. A few of the humans looked up and the chatters died down to mummers as they all began to watch him.

"Enough questions," she replied and began leading him across the room by the wrist. He followed along behind her, glancing at the humans he passed. They were all gazing at him with hopeful eyes, but when his own lighted upon them their looks turned to hate and disappointment. Several turned away from him, continuing with what they had been doing silently. The atmosphere grew tense quickly.

He frowned as he was led from the room into a hall lined with doors. He noticed that all the knobs had been changed so that the locks faced outside, and crude bars had been fixed over the windows.

"Tak, what is this place?" he asked quietly.

"It's a safehouse for humans," she replied. "A rescue center, I suppose."

"Why are you here?" He was wary of her intentions. She could be helping the souls, too.

"I heard about what happened from the Tallest.. and Zim," she replied as she led him into a room at the end of the hall. It looked like it had been set up for medical purposes, with a few cots separated by small dividers, a couple filing cabinets with medical supplies atop them, and a desk scattered with papers and medicine journals. The man sitting behind the desk looked up when they entered.

"Tak, what have you brought?" he asked, rising and stepping around the desk.

"You tell me," she replied, releasing Dib and crossing her arms.

The man stopped in front of Dib, a little taller than he, and took a penlight from his pocket. He clicked it on and shone it in Dib's eyes, frowning.

"I told you, we don't need any more for research," he said, pocketing the pen and looking at Tak.

"I know Jhon," she replied, glancing at Dib and then back at the man with a pointed look. "I will explain later."

"Alright," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck and turning to return to his desk. "Go get him settled, and then come back here."

Tak nodded and moved towards the door. "Follow me."

Dib glanced again at Jhon with a worried expression, then followed her. What were they talking about?

Tak led him to one of the rooms and unlocked the door, pushing it open and gesturing inside.

"Here, this will be your room. Make yourself comfortable."

The boy stepped in and looked around at the mattress on the floor bearing a single pillow and neatly-folded blanket, the small bedside table with a little solar-powered lamp, and.. nothing else. He turned back to her.

"What is going on?" he asked.

"Don't play games with us," she replied, quirking a brow. "We know what you are." She stepped out and closed the door behind her. He heard the click of the lock being pushed and frowned deeper. What the hell was going on here? Why were they treating him like this? He tried the doorknob, then sighed and went to sit on the mattress, being forced to play the waiting game.

Tak paced back into the doctor's office and took a seat across from him.

"His name was Dib," she said, crossing her arms and looking up at him.

"Dib.." he repeated thoughtfully. "Didn't Zim—"

"Yes. He did."

"Ah, now I understand." He sat back and rubbed the back of neck. "Is this really for the better though?"

She shook her head and sighed. "No, but there was nobody else there. The rest were already souls. And I didn't notice until I got him outside. By then I figured.." She let it trail off, glancing up at the doctor. He nodded and leaned forward to steeple his fingers together over the desk.

"What will you tell him?"

"The truth. What else can I say?"

"He doesn't have to know. We could dispose of it and he would be none the wiser.."

"No," she replied, furrowing her brow. "He should know, at the very least."

The doctor nodded and sat back again.

"Alright."


	6. In Thicket Ahead

"Where is he.. It?" Zim burst into the room angrily. Jhon and Tak looked up at him quickly, frowning.

"Zim," she rose. "Who told you?"

"0ne of the humans," he replied, slipping over his shoulder the strap of the sniper rifle he held. "They went to our skool, they knew I knew him. It." He looked between the both of them quickly.

"Well? Where is it?" the alien demanded.

Jhon exchanged a glance with Tak, then looked back down at his papers in a clear gesture that he didn't want to be involved. Tak rose and faced Zim.

"I don't think it's a good idea for you to see him."

"I don't care, _Tak_," he growled. "Take me to it, now."

She sighed. "Alright, but you can't talk to it yet."

She led him down the hall to the room occupied by Dib. Zim stepped up to the door and hesitated, then set his jaw and looked in.

Dib was sitting in the corner, his back against the wall and head tilted forward, eyes closed. He seemed to be sleeping. Zim watched him a moment, then turned back to Tak and sighed.

"Alright," he said quietly. "That's all I need. I don't want to see it ever again."

She nodded and watched as he walked away, taking the gun from his shoulder and moving into the stairs to return to his guard post on the roof.

She glanced in at Dib, then went to the kitchen to get her dinner.

Dib looked up as someone entered his room. The smell of food hit him and he blinked, rising quickly.

"Here," the being said, handing him a small plate with a lunch-sized bowl of pot roast on it. He stared down at the food in his hands as if it were gold, then tore his gaze away to thank the person who bestowed such a gift upon him. He paused when he saw they, too, were an Irken. How many of them were here, and why?

"You're… Irken," he said, sitting down on the mattress again and setting the plate beside him.

"Yes," the alien replied guardedly. He bore a handgun at his side on a belt.

"Why are you here?" Dib asked, picking up the spoon from the plate.

"0ne of our own was here, preparing the planet for invasion." Zim. The Irken continued, "He, as well as our Tallest, informed us of an invasion by another species. The Tallest diverted us here to stop them so we can keep this planet."

"But.. Zim said the Tallest had made a contract with the souls?" Dib picked up the plate and began eating, trying to take it one bite at a time.

"0f course," the alien replied. "If we denied them this place then they—you—might have come after our own."

Dib coughed as he choked on a bit of beef and set the plate down again quickly.

"Wait, me? What do you mean? Do you think I'm one of them?" He rose and touched the scar on the back of his neck. "No, this is a mistake! I scarred myself intentionally, to throw them off!"

The alien looked at him skeptically and shook his head.

"As you say." He turned and stepped out, locking the door behind him. Dib watched him go with a growing sense of dread. Surely they should have known, when they looked into his eyes?

He sat back down and looked at the food distastefully. He wasn't hungry anymore. This was a nightmare.

He eventually did finish his dinner, licking the bowl clean even and setting it near the door. Dib then curled up on the thin mattress and fell asleep, resting long through the night and probably would have remained so on into the morning, had not he been interrupted.

He awoke with a violent start to someone's hands wrapped around his throat, cutting off his breath. His eyes opened wide and he tried to gasp, but nothing came to his lungs and he felt sick. Crimson eyes stared down at him, gleaming in the dim light from the hall. He reached up instinctively and punched the alien in the throat, his hand having curled into a fist on the journey from his side through the air.

The Irken coughed and loosened his grip momentarily in surprise. Dib gasped, then brought his knees up and planted his feet in the alien's midriff, kicking him away forcefully.

The body stumbled back, falling against the closed door with a pained gasp.

Dib jumped to his feet and clenched his hands into fists, ready to defend himself. He reached over and clicked the light on.

He gasped as the soft light filled the room, revealing to him Zim's form standing by the door.

"Zim!" he exclaimed, releasing his fists and stepping towards the alien, overjoyed at having found someone familiar in this strange world. The alien narrowed his eyes and stepped forward again, striking Dib across the face. He stumbled back and put a hand to his temple, looking up at Zim and frowning.

"Don't fucking talk to me, soul," Zim snapped, his eyes burning with rage.

"Zim, I know, you guys think I'm one of them," Dib said, straightening and lowering his hand. "But I'm not. It's a mistake. Look at my eyes."

The invader bared his teeth in a snarl and pulled a knife from his belt. He was on Dib in an instant, slamming him against the floor and pressing the blade against his throat. The human's eyes widened and he threw his hands up in front of his face as if that would help.

Zim glared down at him a long moment, then rose and put the blade away. He turned and stepped from the room silently, locking it behind him.

"Zim, wait!" Dib rubbed his throat and sat up, frowning after the alien. What was going on here? He knew Zim was his enemy, but enough of one to kill him even now, in this war-torn and alien-invaded world..?

He sighed and sat against the wall in the corner. There would be no more sleep tonight.


	7. My Body, My House

"Come on, Soul," a guard came for him as soon as dawn cracked outside. He was an Irken, and possibly the same one from the previous night whom had brought dinner.

Dib rubbed at his eyes tiredly and rose, stepping over to the door.

"Where is Zim?" he asked.

"Invader Zim? He's holding lookout on the roof." The Irken replied. "Now give me your hands."

Dib held his hands out obediently and watches as the alien bound them together with odd metal cuffs, similar to human handcuffs.

"Do you think I'm dangerous?" he asked curiously. If they thought he was a soul, then they shouldn't be worried about him.

"Seekers are always dangerous," he replied and clipped a small chain in between the cuffs.

"Seeker? I'm not a Seeker," Dib frowned and began walking with the Irken as he was led from the room. "I'm not even a soul, why can't you see that? Look at my eyes!"

The alien said nothing as he walked down the hall and into the main room from before. People—humans—glanced up at his appearance. Most looked away, their faces hardened, but some watched him with expressions of sadness. He recognized a few old schoolmates and waved sheepishly. They turned away.

"Where are we going?" he asked his guard quietly.

"Nowhere you want to," The Irken replied casually, keeping an eye on the people. Some looked downright hostile, and Dib guessed they kept their distance because of the gun the guard carried.

They crossed the large room to a door on the opposite side. Dib breathed again when they were in the empty hall of the opposite side of the building. He followed the Irken down a flight of stairs into the sub-basement of the building. There were more rooms here, again with the locks switched to the outside of the doors. As he passed, Dib looked into a few of the rooms and saw humans in them, sometimes more than one to a room.

"Wait, why are these humans here?" he asked after seeing a young child in one room. He understood almost before the words were entirely out of his mouth, because the child looked up and he saw the silver reflected in their eyes from the dim overhead lights.

He was led around the corner, down that hall, and into the last room on the left. There were metal tables set against the walls and chairs with straps fixed to them. It looked as if this had once been some kind of kitchen, because there was a metal counter with a sink and plenty of cabinets.

"What is this?" he asked. The guard obviously wasn't much for talking today. He took Dib over to one of the tables.

"Get on," he instructed. Dib frowned at this, but did so anyway, wanting to be cooperative. They would figure out that he was human soon, he hoped.

He was patient as the guard strapped down his wrists and legs. They both looked up when someone else entered the room. Dib recognized him as the doctor.

"Jhon," the Irken greeted him.

"Hello Skeen," he replied pleasantly. "How are you this fine morning?"

"Alright, and yourself?" Skeen moved to the head of the table and leaned on the wall.

"Just fine."

Dib was amazed at how the humans and Irkens were behaving as if they were the same. He supposed they were, judging by the situation. United against a common enemy.

"Alright then, this is the new one?" Jhon asked as he moved over to a filing cabinet and opened the second-to-top drawer.

"Yeah, the one Tak brought in."

Jhon nodded as he took a small box out of the cabinet and stepped over to Dib. He set the box on a smaller table close by and opened it. Dib watched curiously.

"So, how do you feel?" he directed the question at Dib.

"Fine," he lied. "But why am I here?"

"Just a routine check of your host's body," Jhon replied as he removed a stethoscope from the box and screwed the head on.

"My body," Dib replied flatly. "Why do you think I'm one of them?"

The doctor stepped over and began checking Dib's vitals like any normal exam. He didn't reply, intent on his work. Dib was silent throughout the process, though he gave the doctor a smug look when he removed his glasses and checked his eyes. His look quickly shifted to a disbelieving frown as Jhon returned his glasses and said nothing.

"Wait, didn't you see?" he said, outraged. "I'm not a soul, I don't have the silver shine!"

Skeen shook his head slightly in disapproval.

"Soul," Jhon crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at him. "You aren't going to fool us, no matter how much you say it so you may as well save your breath."

"But I'm not a fucking soul!" Dib growled angrily. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why can't you see!"

Jhon sighed and moved back to the cabinet. He returned with a square mirror and held it above Dib's head. He took the ophthalmoscope and shone its light into his eyes.

Dib gasped as a silver ring reflected around his pupils. The doctor stepped back and began putting his tools away.

"Wait, no.. How? This isn't possible!" Dib was filled with dread and confusion. "What did they do to me? I'm not a soul!"

Skeen began unstrapping him from the table. Dib sat up when he could and tried to bolt after the doctor, whom had just left. Skeen grabbed his shoulders and held him in place.

"Come back!" Dib cried as his wrists were bound together again. "Please, I'm not one of them!"

Skeen pulled on the chain and Dib slid off the table. He hung his head and followed the Irken silently, not understanding anything anymore.

He was led back to his room and released from the cuffs. The human stepped over to his mattress and sat down, planting his head in his hands and staring at the floor between his feet. A nightmare..

"Soul?" Dib awoke to the name and someone tapping his shoulder lightly.

"Hmm?" He opened his eyes and sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep from his face and looking up at the Irken. Skeen.

"It is morning. Here is your food. Eat quickly, you'll be assigned a job soon." he asked. Dib sat forward, pulling his legs under him and taking the small plate the alien held out to him. He began to eat and asked between bites,

"What job?"

Skeen had stepped back and was standing by the door, arms crossed.

"Everyone here works, except those who can't," he replied. "We will find something for you to do to earn your food."

Dib nodded, thinking that fair enough, and finished his meager breakfast. He rose to follow the alien, waiting patiently as his wrists were cuffed again.

Skeen led him back out into the main room where a few looked up at him, scowled, and looked away again. Dib just kept his head down as he followed the Invader. Maybe he was an alien, though he didn't understand how. 0r maybe these Irkens had fed lies to the humans. He couldn't question, for he was led into another hallway and up to the second floor.

"What will be my job?" he asked, wondering what they would trust a Soul with.

"Invaders Zim and Skoodge decide the working Soul's jobs," he replied. Zim! Maybe Dib would get a chance to talk to him, and find out some information about this place.. and perhaps also why Zim was so angry with him. He knew the Irken hated him, but he didn't think it was that bad, especially with so much else to think about.

They twisted and turned through rooms and hallways, maneuvering around one area where the roof had collapsed. Dib glanced up at a crude tarp covering the large gap left.

Zim was in a small room at the end of the hall, a shorter, fatter Irken standing beside him.

"Invader," Skeen dipped his head in a respectful manner. Dib was surprised.

"I have brought the new worker."

"Very good," Zim replied, his eyes lighting on Dib a moment and narrowing. He looked back at Dib's guard.

"Away with you now."

Skeen dipped his head again, then pushed Dib forward and left. The human stepped over to a small group of six workers and stood, some small distance from them. He listened.

"Souls," Zim said, crossing his arms behind his back and narrowing his eyes. "You are our slaves now, here to work for us. I am Invader Zim, this," he nodded to the Irken beside him, "Is Invader Skoodge. We are your commanding officers; you will do everything we say. Right?"

The Souls, most male but a few females, nodded. Some were standing tall, arms crossed as if they had done this a million times. 0thers were looking around fearfully, one young male trembling even.

"Good." Zim's magenta gaze rested on Dib. "Newbies, give me your names. You start!"

Dib looked up at Zim and hesitated, then replied, "Dib. You know that."

"I only asked for your name," Zim snapped, then turned his gaze on the quivering male.

"Ceaseless Moving," he said quietly. Zim looked to the next.

"Churns Water," she replied.

"Speaks With Bears."

"Pathetic Soul names," he growled, eyeing all of them and then looking at Dib. "Except for you. Pathetic Earth name.

"Now," he addressed the whole group, "We are going to remove your cuffs. Don't even think of escape." He patted a weapon hung at a belt on his side and grinned at all of them. Skoodge wore one as well, Dib noticed.

He watched silently as Skoodge began unlocking the Soul's cuffs, one by one. Most of the rubbed their wrists and looked around, but Zim kept a hand on the gun so nobody moved.

When it came Dib's turn, he held out his wrists and whispered,

"Invader Skoodge, I'm not a Soul. I'm a human, I swear."

"Silence!" Zim boomed, gaining some flinches from the Souls. Skoodge removed Dib's cuffs and walked over to a table without even acknowledging Dib's words. The human frowned and followed the Souls as Zim herded them out into the hallway.

Skoodge came behind them with five large buckets. He set them down in a neat row across the hallway near the rubble.

"Today you will continue your work on the ceiling," Zim said. "Get to it. Newbies, take the experienced worker's examples."

Three of the workers stepped forward and began picking up bits of debris, grabbing as much as their bare hands could hold and then depositing it into certain buckets. The others quickly followed.

It didn't take Dib long to get into a habit of things. He focused on one bucket at a time; there was one for wood material, shingles, plaster, plastic, insulation, and another for whatever else they found.

The insulation hurt his hands, and he wondered that they really should be handling the stuff without masks or gloves. He just avoided it and picked up the other stuff, not wanting yet to pose any question.

They worked for hours, slowly filtering through the wreckage until the floor was spotless. Some even got down on hands and knees and picked up the tiniest crumbs.

Zim finally clapped his hands and said,

"Enough. Take the buckets to the end of the hall and dump them in their correct trash bins."

Five of the Souls stepped forward and picked up the buckets, then began walking down the hall towards some large trashcans that were set up there. Dib and Speaks with Bears were left with nothing to do.

"You two," Zim growled. "Take up that large piece and carry it down."

They obliged, lifting a piece of plaster too big to fit into the bucket and, together, carried it down to the bins. It wouldn't fit inside, so they propped it against the wall next to the plaster bin. The two then quickly returned to the group and were all led back into the room.

Zim watched silently as Skoodge re-applied all of their cuffs. Guards, Skeen among them, entered the room one by one and the Souls left with them. Dib hesitated, looking at Zim and wishing he could have a moment to talk to him. But Skeen grabbed the chain between his wrists and led him out the door with the others.

He was taken back to his room and soon brought a plate of food.

"This is small for dinner," he said lightly as he took the small bowl of soup.

"Its lunch," Skeen replied.

"Lunch? What time is it?"

"Around 1:00."

1:00? It felt as if he had been working forever. He said nothing, but finished his soup and handed the bowl and spoon back to the Invader. He must have been woken very early.

"What now?" he asked.

"Now you go work again."


	8. How Will It Be

Skeen wasn't kidding. Dib, along with the other six workers, were returned to the same place to continue cleaning up the caved roof. By the time they were done for that day, more than half of the area had been cleaned, and they could move around it in the hallway again. Dib's hands were sore from all the rough material, and he had too many cuts, scrapes, and splinters to count.

Zim led them all downstairs to a large room filled wall to wall with tables. Most of the humans Dib had seen, and many more, were seated at the tables with plates of food. There were at least forty or more humans he could count.

Dib's group was led to a table in the corner where they all sat, Dib finding himself next to Churns Water. Skoodge, Skeen, and another Irken brought them all their food. They ate in silence, compared to the rest of the room. The humans were all talking and laughing, quietly of course but still enjoying themselves.

"That was good work today, Bears," Churns Water said quietly.

"Thank you, Water," Speaks With Bears replied. A few other remarks were exchanged between the Souls, under the watchful and disapproving eye of Zim.

Dib noticed that most of the Irkens weren't eating; only a few snacking on things or grazing off other's plates. Most of them were even mingling with the humans. There seemed to be perfect harmony between the two species.

After dinner, Dib was led back to his room by Skeen. He collapsed on his mattress, exhausted, and was asleep in no time.

He was awoken in the same manner the next morning, taken to work, lunch, more work, dinner, and bed. This process was repeated daily until all the wreckage was cleared away. Then he was left in his room for a day, only brought meager meals and not even granted the company of Invader Skeen while he ate.

Then, the next day, Skeen came to fetch him for work again.

"Come," he said after he fixed the cuffs about Dib's wrists. "Invader Zim has more work for you."

Dib followed him, led along by the short chain out into the main room and back down the hall. He noticed another Irken leading Bears in the same manner, and gave her a small smile. She kept her head down and followed her guard silently.

They joined the group of workers again, their cuffs removed and placed once again on the table. Zim stood in all his glory before them, serious and bitter-looking as ever. Skoodge was at his side, not quite so threatening.

"Listen up creatures," Zim addressed them. "We have recovered some basic Earthly building materials. Today you will be patching the hole in the roof."

They all nodded, Dib following along with what the more experienced Souls did.

"Work as a team, as you are all so very good at," the Irken sneered. "Don't do anything stupid."

He then walked over to the door and held it open. The Souls—and Dib—filed out in a single line. Two ladders were set in the hall under the hole, and several sheets of plywood, a couple tarps, some hammers, and small box of nails were lined neatly against the wall.

The Souls got to work immediately, two climbing the ladders and the others passing plywood up for them. They seemed to already have a plan formed, as if their systems were just built specifically for working together on tasks. Dib tried to fit in best he could, passing nails and taking his turn on the ladder nailing plywood to the undamaged ceiling. It was difficult work, but they were finished before lunchtime.

Zim stood against the wall a short distance from them, not even watching. He was staring down at his boots with a stern expression, arms crossed and antenna tense. Skoodge was wandering around among the Souls, helping out where he could and giving advice.

"Don't forget the tarps," Zim snapped as Dib started to climb back down from the ladder. He paused, then stepped up again and took the blue tarp from the Soul who offered it. He began tacking it tightly against the ceiling and plywood, to prevent rain from leaking through.

They finished that task in a matter of minutes, then climbed down and began moving the tools and equipment into the room. Zim followed them in and watched silently as Skoodge bound all of their cuffs on them.

Their guards came and led them down to the dining room. Dib wondered what they would do tomorrow as he glanced up at the finished roof.

The group sat at their usual table and were given their usual plate of stale bread, crackers, and cheese. Dib had to pick bits of mold off his, as did several of the others. No one complained.

"Dib," Ceaseless whispered, speaking to him for the first time. The human raised a brow to acknowledge the Soul, casting a glance at Zim. The Invader was still guarding the table, but was far enough away to be out of hearing range.

"What?" he whispered back.

"Is it true that your Host knew Invader Zim before we even came here?"

Dib frowned, feeling his eyes start to narrow.

"Yes," he replied, "Yes, my Host knew him for many years before the—we—came to Earth." No point in trying to convince the Souls of who he really was.

"Wow.. So its true then? That Zim and your Host were friends?" Ceaseless Moving shot a look at Zim as he shifted.

"Friends?" Dib's brow furrowed. "Where did you hear that? I—they weren't friends."

"I overheard my guard talking to Water's. They said Zim is upset that you are here."

"Yeah," he smirked, understanding. "He hates my Host. They were.. enemies."

"No, honey!" Bears cut in softly. "No, I heard the same from some humans I passed yesterday. It upsets him to see you. Apparently he didn't want you brought here because he cared for your Host."

Ceaseless and Bears sat up straighter and began eating again as the Invader turned to face them.

"Hurry up!" Zim snapped, granting Dib a glare before sweeping it over the rest of them. Zim, upset? Impossible. He hated everything about Dib. He was probably upset because now he had to see one enemy inside another enemy's body, or so he thought, since everyone here thought Dib was a Soul. Twice the hate.

The boy finished his food quickly and rose with the others, taking his plate over to the counter and stacking it neatly. Two women behind the counter glanced up at the group and offered smiles as they took the dishes to wash them. So everyone here didn't hate them, that was good at least.

Dib followed his guard back to his room and spent the rest of the day there, having no more work to do. He was brought his dinner and ate in silence, even though Skeen stayed in the room with him. When finished, he handed the plate back with a quiet thanks and sat alone in the dark as the lights were turned out. The human sighed and paced around awhile, cleaned his glasses, played with a string on his shirt. He wasn't ready to sleep, even though he knew he really should. Finally, he grew weary and was about to lay down when he heard a noise outside. Curious, he stepped over to the door to peek out the small window but was surprised as his door was suddenly opened and someone slipped in. They carried a small battery-operated lantern turned to low, and in its light Dib saw a glint of metal. Months of living on the streets hiding and running from the Seekers had taught him not to think, but act.

Unable to see much in the dim light, he grabbed the intruder's arm and twisted it, hearing a grunt and the clatter of the knife as it fell to the floor. Dib shoved the attacker against the wall and hit them in the abdomen. They curled over coughing and dropped the lantern, the light spilling across the floor at their feet. Dib glanced down, first at his own boots, then at the other's. He gasped when he recognized them.

"Zim!" he hissed, releasing the alien. He saw crimson eyes glare up at him a moment, then a gloved hand snatched for the knife on the floor. Dib kicked it across the room, hearing it hit his pathetic mattress.

"Filthy creature," Zim growled and lunged for his throat. The human blocked him and threw him to the floor with his own body weight. Dib wasn't in good shape, but he had grown much stronger from the work and semi-good food he had been given. He pinned the alien, reaching over to pick up the lantern and set it by his head. Zim struggled and growled, but finally stopped and looked up at him.

"Get off me," he hissed, keeping his voice down.

"No," Dib replied quietly. "Why are you trying to kill me?"

"Because you don't belong here, Soul," Zim's eyes narrowed further and he began to struggle again. Dib waited patiently from his seat on the alien's abdomen, one hand holding his wrist down and the other pinning a slim shoulder. Irkens weren't made for strength; Zim soon gave up, panting softly.

"No, I don't. I belong out there, with the other humans," he sighed.

"Stop your lies, Soul! We all know what you are capable of, and you don't fool anyone!" Zim snarled angrily. Dib started to reply, but held his tongue. Nothing he said would convince them. He didn't even know what was going on himself, how was he supposed to explain to them? He shook his head and gritted his teeth.

"Why are you so upset? You hate me. For the sake of your beliefs that I am a Soul, you hate my Host. Dib." He swallowed and frowned. "You hate Dib."

"I hate you too, you fucking filthy Soul-creature!"

Dib sighed and released Zim, rising and watching as the alien scrambled to his feet and snatched up his lantern. He looked up at the human, then dove for his knife, grabbing it up and whirling about as if he expected Dib to be attacking him.

Dib stepped aside, away from the door to show his lack of intention to try to run or attack. Zim stepped up to him until he was a breath away, standing a couple inches shorter than Dib's 6ft height. The human stood his ground, looking down at the alien as the blade was raised inches from his throat. But no killing stab or slice proceeded. Zim stared into his eyes long and hard, then turned abruptly and stormed from the room, closing and locking the door behind him.

Dib watched him go, then stepped over to the bed to sleep.


	9. Cloud For A Shift

**AUTH0R'S N0TE** Highly unsure where this is going. It may become a ZaDF, or possibly even a ZaDR, ZaTR, or DaTR (stop throwing stuff at me), but it has the exact same chance of ending horribly. Be prepared for anything and everything.

Also, I found a few flaws in Chapter8. It has been revised. Please take note

"Guard the rooms! They will come for their own first!" Someone was shouting. Something was happening.

Dib sat upright, awake in an instant, and threw his blanket aside. He jumped to the door and looked out. Something was happening, something bad. Irkens and humans were running up and down the hall. They bore weapons, both official and make-shift ones. Dib tried his door, but it was still locked. He watched worriedly as unarmed humans began filtering down the hall quickly, pushed on by Irkens. They were panicking, stumbling over themselves and each other.

"Hurry, get them somewhere safe!" Tak's voice. Dib's eyes widened and he struggled to see further down the hall, eyes seeking out her distinguished figure. She was standing at the end of the hall, waving an Irken gun in the air. She lowered her arm when another guard ran to her and began giving him orders in their native tongue. Dib was momentarily fascinated by the language.

Jhon appeared further up the hall, keys in hand. He began to unlock the first of the Soul's doors, but Tak stopped him.

"Leave them in their rooms! It will slow the Seeker's down if they have to break every door."

He nodded and picked up one of the two children struggling to keep up with the adults. He ran down the hall where the last of the humans had disappeared into the stairwell to the basement.

"Breeched!" someone shouted from the main room.

"Take position!" Tak shouted, and Irken guards filed up to form a line, some crouching and others standing behind them. They raised their weapons and began firing. The guns they had made little sound, but soon the thunderous crack of a shotgun echoed down the hall. Jhon flew past Dib's room, reloading as he did. He forced his way in between the Irkens and began firing on the Seekers that were rushing the place. They held no weapons of their own, but retaining devices such as tasers and handcuffs. Some carried needles filled with Ladocaine, and others rope and sheets.

Dib watched as humans, actual humans, appeared and opened fire on the Irkens. They outnumbered the Irkens, and soon the alien line was pushed back, past Dib's room to the back of the hall. A few more humans from the basement had come up to join the fight, some so desperate as to throw things at the attackers. While the Seeker's human army was pounding the Irkens, the Seekers themselves were busily opening the doors to free their kind. 0ne reached Dib's door and cracked the handle screws, pulling the handle off easily and pushing open the door.

"Quickly, come with me!" he said, gesturing at the man. Dib backed away, looking for something to defend himself with. The Seeker mistook it as fear and stepped in, taking Dib by the arm and pulling him from the room.

"It's ok, I'm a Soul," he said as he pulled Dib down the hall. They joined a group of Seekers and Souls in the main area, the Souls crouching behind a divider set in the corner as the Seekers surrounded them to protect them. Dib crouched along with them, thinking he could use his strange Soul-likeness for his benefit.

"Kill them!" Zim's voice cut through the deafening noise. "Fucking murder them all!"

0ne of the Seekers surrounding them dropped suddenly, his head partially incinerated. Another two dropped and the Souls panicked. They rose and began running collectively, rushing towards the doors. Dib peeked around the divider and watched as they were taken down one by one. He frowned as Speaks With Bears and Churning Waters went down, screaming in agony. They were silenced with another couple shots.

Humans ran past the divider, forcing Dib to duck out of the way.

"Drive them down!" Tak shouted, chasing them. It seemed, somehow, the Irkens had gained the upper hand. Dib watched uselessly as the Irken mowed down the remaining human army, and wondered worriedly why the Souls were using humans to fight their battles. It seemed incredibly risky to them, and he didn't see the sense in it.

He ducked back under a desk, wanting to stay out of the way as more Irkens ran past. The screams of death and gunshots gradually ceased until orders were shouted to gather the bodies and collect the wounded.

"Take the wounded into the supply room!" Jhon shouted.

"Pack up, move out!" Zim shouted, cutting Jhon off.

Dib crawled out from under the desk and looked around a moment, on his hands and knees. He looked across the room at all the bodies and blood. It was everywhere, no surface escaping a splash of crimson.

Something groaned near to him, and he turned quickly. It was Ceaseless Moving. The Soul was mortally wounded, but still trying to get away. Dib watched as he lifted his head and looked at him, silver-shined eyes pierced with terror and pain. The boy moved to help him, but stopped when Zim came into view. The Irken raised the gun he held and shot the Soul, killing him instantly. Dib scrambled back under the desk and pressed against the back of it, holding his breath.

"Where is Dib?" Zim shouted. Dib closed his eyes, shaking.

"He's not accounted for yet," Tak replied, her voice close.

"Well find him!" Zim snapped back.

Dib remained where he was, listening as several pairs of footsteps ran the building over. He was about to show himself when Skeen appeared, leaning down to look under the desk.

"There you are," he growled and reached under the desk, grabbing the boy's arm.

"Skeen!" Dib gasped and grabbed onto the Irken's arm with his free hand. Dib knew what was to become of himself, and he feared. "Skeen, please! I'm not one of them!"

Skeen pulled him out and shoved him onto his back, surprisingly strong for an Irken.

"Found him!" Skeen shouted as he twisted Dib's arm to keep him down.

"Please, listen to me!" Dib cried, struggling against the firm hold. He reached up and locked his hand around Skeen's wrist, trying to break his grip.

Zim appeared as he stepped around the desk and scowled murderously down at Dib.

"What do you want to do with him?" Skeen asked.

"Go help pack. I will deal with this one," Zim replied.

"Yes sir." Skeen released Dib and ran off. The room was empty. Everyone had gone to help the wounded and pack whatever they could carry.

Zim's gun was holstered at his side, but he drew a knife instead and stepped over Dib. The boy scrambled back until he hit the side of the divider. He was pinned against it and watched uselessly as Zim crouched down, blade in hand.

"Zim, listen to me! I can help you guys, I am human!" Dib babbled. Anything to save his life.

Zim's magenta eyes narrowed and without sign he drove the blade into Dib's side, not an instant kill but a slow, agonizing death in store. Dib gasped, hands clutching at the floor as he struggled to catch his surprised breath. Zim withdrew the blade and cleaned it on Dib's shirt, then rose and turned to walk away. Dib inhaled sharply, a torrent of pain crashing over him as he did, and grabbed onto Zim's boot. His fingers dug against it desperately and the Irken paused, glancing back at Dib. Their eyes met for a moment, then Zim pulled free and walked away.

"No," Dib choked, turning onto his side. "No, don't leave me like this!"

Zim ignored him, moving into the other room to help get the others moving.

"Fuck you!" Dib shouted, clutching a hand around his side and struggling to get up. He threw his shoulder against the divider, feeling it give dangerously. In this way, he managed to force himself to his feet and stumbled after Zim.

"Hurry up!" Tak shouted as she shoved the last of the food supplies into a backpack and handed it off the one of the refugees. Most were outside by now, some with packs full of supplies and others carrying the wounded on make-shift stretches of boards and blankets. She was one of the few guards left, the rest being with the humans.

"Let's go," Zim said, moving past her. She nodded and picked up her own packed bag, but something caught the corner of her eye and she turned to look, resting a hand instantly on her gun.

Dib stood in the doorway, slouched against the frame with fire in his eyes. He was trailing blood, and pale as a ghost.

Tak stared at him a moment before tearing her eyes away to look at Zim. He, too, was staring at Dib coldly.

"Let's go," he repeated and turned away, heading for the door. Tak looked back at Dib, frowning. His eyes followed Zim out the door and then he slid down the doorframe to his knees with a gasp. Tak shouldered her bag and walked over to him, crouching before the boy and laying a hand on his shoulder.

He lifted his eyes to her's and her frown deepened, surprised by what she saw in his gaze.

"I'm.. not a Soul," Dib gasped faintly and started to fall forward. Tak caught him and laid him carefully on his side.

"I know," she replied quietly. Dib looked up at her in surprise. She rose and turned, hurrying out the door after Zim.

Dib watched her go, but succumbed to blood loss before he saw what she did.


	10. My Body My Good

'_So this is what it's like to be blind,'_ was the first thought that came to Dib. He heard voices, distant and muffled, like someone was speaking through water or glass, but he couldn't see anything. He was submerged in oblivious darkness. There were sensations, small prickles of feeling and thought, but for the most part he was unaware of his surroundings, and probably better for him. It would be another hour before he awoke.

"Remind me why I am doing this again?" Jhon asked tiredly, looking up from his seat against the wall.

"I don't remember," Tak replied, her eyes fixed on the unconscious boy. Jhon shook his head and reached up to scratch at the back of his neck.

"You're asking for trouble, is what is." The doctor shifted forward and checked Dib's vitals cautiously.

"If you're talking about Zim, I've already handled that."

"And?"

"He doesn't care as long as we keep Dib out of his way." Tak looked up at him, frowning. "You don't believe me, do you? About the boy."

Jhon sat back and crosses his arms, head tilted to the side.

"Tak, I don't know what I believe anymore. Can't say I haven't seen stranger." He rose and began making rounds of the wounded which, gratefully, weren't too great in number.

She shifted her gaze back down at Dib. He was stable, for now. So was the group. They hadn't been able to move the wounded far, so they had moved everyone to an abandoned house near-by. Several scouts went out to find a place better, Skeen returning to report a partially-caved basement, accessible through a non-functional well in the yard. After some debate, they decided on it. It had taken some tricky maneuvering to get the injured into the basement, because the way it was set up was that the well went down a good six feet until a large hole had been dug into the wall. The narrow tunnel led to the basement of the house. They had tried to clear away the debris from the stairway to get in that way, but the entire stairwell had collapsed. The well was the only way in.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a low moan. She shifted uncomfortably and looked down at Dib. Jhon glanced over, brow raised curiously. He looked back down at the woman he was helping and murmured something, then stood and stepped over to Dib.

"Are the others alright?" Tak asked quietly, glancing around at the fallen. They had lost two on the journey here, one a human and one an Irken, and one more since arriving. Tak, Skeen, Jhon, and another Irken named Kai were the only ones who had stayed with the wounded. The rest of the Irkens had led the capable humans to a safer place. Zim was to return with an escort group as soon as everyone was well enough to travel again.

"For the most part, yes. Most of them will heal with no complication." He knelt beside Dib and watched the boy closely.

"Good," she sighed, turning her attention back to the boy. They waited patiently for any other sign of awakening.

'Good', he heard, suddenly very clearly. What was good? Dib shifted and moaned again, his eyes fluttering open and blinking rapidly to clear the moisture from them. Two shadows leaned over him, staring down with faceless curiosity. A memory, forgotten and tucked back into the unreachable corners of his mind, sprang terribly to the front of his thoughts. Two beings, also shadows, leaning over him. Bright lights behind them, too bright to be anything but blazing artificial lights. Exam lights. But instead of the faceless black that faced him now, they had features. Silver eyes, shining, piercing. Staring down at him emotionlessly.

Dib gasped and tried to get away from the figures, struggling to sit up, to move. The larger of them grabbed his shoulders and pinned him firmly against the ground.

"Dib, calm down," a male voice told him. "You are safe."

Dib closed his eyes shook his head slowly. 'Safe'. _They_ had said he was safe. _They_ had said that. That was _their_ word. His panic increased, he struggled more.

"You are safe here," Jhon repeated, his voice becoming familiar again to Dib. The boy opened his eyes and looked up at him, still unable to see but starting to understand.

"Bring a light," the doctor instructed someone, loosening his grip but not removing his hands, not yet.

The second figure moved away, but soon returned with a dimly-lit lantern. She turned it up and set it near them, casting a wide circle of light around the three.

"There, see? It's just us. Nothing to fear." Jhon sat back and smiled kindly. Dib glanced over at Tak and furrowed his brow.

"What happened?" Dib whispered. His throat was dry, and his head floating.

"You were hurt," Jhon replied. "You're alright now, but you need to be still."

"Do you remember what happened?" Tak asked, leaning forward slightly. Dib closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then frowned.

"Zim."

"Yeah," she replied.

"Where is he? Where am I?"

"Don't worry about all that now," Jhon said, rising. "You need rest." He crossed the room to a make-shift table and began picking through a case of vials. He returned after finding what he needed and knelt again.

"I'm going to give you something local to help you rest," he explained, filling a needle with a small amount of the vial's content. When he leaned down to give the injection, Dib reached up and grabbed his arm, stopping him weakly.

"Dib, trust me." He met the boy's eye to convey his intent. Dib slowly released him and lowered his arm. Jhon gave him the injection and he grew tired quickly, eventually drifting into a peaceful rest. Tak and Jhon watched him awhile, then began to talk again.

"How is he looking?" Tak asked quietly. Jhon checked Dib's dressing again and nodded.

"Fine, better than to be expected. He's a strong lad."

The Irken nodded and sighed, rubbing the back of her head. Jhon sat back against the wall and ticked his head, eyes full of understanding and wisdom. He was so young himself, Tak wondered how he came to this point so soon in life.

"You didn't talk to Zim, did you?" he suddenly asked, a small smile crossing his lips. Tak started to retort something rebellious, but just sighed and shook her head.

"No, I didn't. He doesn't even know we brought him here.."

"Thought so. Well, I guess you know Zim better than I, though I don't think he's going to be pleased with this." Jhon yawned and rose. "He obviously wants the boy dead, for one reason or another."

Tak nodded slowly, eyes fixed on Dib's bruised and dirtied face.

"You know why, and I won't ask." He smiled kindly and patted her shoulder. "Get some rest, Tak." The doctor stepped past her, over to a blanket laid out on the floor. He wouldn't sleep, he rarely ever did. He just liked to keep up the impression that he did. Tak shifted to take his place against the wall and closed her eyes. Zim was to return tomorrow with news of what they found, if anything. It would be a rough day.


	11. How Will I Hide

"Zim," Tak rose from her place beside Dib, taking up the lantern and quickly moving away from the boy. She stepped around another resting human and stopped, Dib being out of the light from where she stood. Her's was the only lantern on in the room, casting an eerie facelessness on the bodies around her.

"How are our own?" Zim asked, brushing dirt and dust from his uniform and looking around. Another Irken had followed him and was standing warily by the hole in the wall.

"Good, they will heal fine," she replied, voice lowered so as not to wake the others. "Did you find a place?"

"Yes, a good one. Where is Jhon?" Zim narrowed his eyes to squint around the room, unable to see any more than the black shapes of bodies on the floor.

"Sleeping. He needs it. Why? Is anyone hurt?"

"Zek was scratched by a nail," he replied, stepping forward and taking the lamp from her. "He needs it sterilized."

Tak nodded and pointed in the doctor's direction. "There." She watched tensely as Zim stepped over and around bodies, the pool of light following him, along with Invader Zek just outside the rim of glow. She glanced over to where Dib lay and frowned, but moved to Jhon and leaned against the wall casually while Zim woke him up.

"What happened?" Jhon sat up, awake in an instant. He stood and brushed the back of his hand across his eyes.

Zek stepped forward and removed one of his gloves, showing the man a long but shallow scratch on his arm.

"Alright," Jhon sighed and stepped over to the make-shift table. He clicked open his box of supplies and pulled out what he needed. "Sit down."

Tak watched as the doctor cleaned and wrapped the wound, much to Zek's disgruntlement.

"There," he said when finished, putting away his bandages and anti-infectional spray. Zek nodded in a small show of either approval or thanks, then returned to his place in the darkness near the well entrance.

"So," Zim said when the other had left. He'd set the lantern on the table and was now standing, arms crossed, crimson eyes scanning the dark room. "They will all live?"

"Yeah, nobody is too bad off, from what I can tell," Jhon replied, laying back down and folding his hands behind his head. He sighed and closed his eyes, signifying that he was finished with conversation and ready to sleep again.

Zim said nothing.

A slight movement caught Tak's attention. She glanced over and her frown deepened as Dib shifted.

"Tak?" her name was whispered, barely audible. Her antennae twitched, dropping against her head in dismay. She turned and stepped over to him quickly, hoping to hush anything else he might say. She couldn't keep him from Zim forever, but she could hold off an unpleasant discovery for as long as possible.

It wasn't to be for very long.

"Shh, it's alright," she whispered back, touching his shoulder in a comforting way. His head turned and he groaned, then mumbled something.

"Shh," she repeated, giving him a firmer touch.

"Gaz?" Dib called, louder this time. Too loud.

Zim's eyes darted up, narrowing on the shift and darkening. His antennae lifted slightly, waiting for that familiar voice to confirm what he suddenly knew.

"Don't feel good," Dib moaned, shifting to his side and curling up. Tak frowned and opened her mouth to call Jhon but he was already kneeling on the other side of Dib.

"What do you feel?" he asked.

"Sick," Dib replied, moving a hand to his abdomen and clenching it there. Jhon reached for the wrist of his other hand and checked his pulse, nodding to it. Tak glanced up at him worriedly, sensing something amiss. They both forgot for the time the hateful, glaring being standing just feet away.

"Are you nauseous? Dizzy?" Jhon asked, touching the boy's brow. Dib just nodded slowly, shifting again and curling in more.

"What is it?" Tak asked.

"I think he's having a delayed reaction to the medication," Jhon replied, rising and moving quickly back to the lantern. Zim was gone. They hadn't even heard him move, but didn't have time to worry about it now. Jhon opened the box and began sifting through the contents, searching out a combatant drug.

Tak brushed Dib's hair as he convulsed in a dry-retch.

A shadow, darker in the darkness of the room, stepped before her on the other side of the boy and she glanced up, expecting the doctor. Magenta eyes glared down at her piercingly, accusingly.

"Zim," she shifted to a sturdy position but didn't remove her hands from the human. "Leave, now."

"I don't even need to ask why you brought that here," he snarled.

"No, you don't," she snapped back. "Now go away." She turned her eyes back down to the shivering boy and anticipated whatever reply Zim would give. There was none, just silence.

The light lurched and moved to them quickly. Jhon set it down and began stripping a new syringe from its package. He was shaking his head slowly.

"What?" Tak asked, sharply aware of Zim as he side-stepped the doctor.

"I shouldn't have given him such a dose, not without food," he growled, filling the syringe from a vial and quickly giving the boy the injection. "I knew better. It was stupid."

"You did it for him. He needed rest."

"Not that badly."

Dib shuddered beneath her gloved hands but soon calmed, releasing a sigh. He seemed to melt against the blanket on the floor, relaxing to the point of sleep again.

"He's exhausted," Jhon sighed, sitting back. "This is taking all his energy, and more."

Tak started to reply, but looked up again sharply as Zim moved. He stepped forward and slowly knelt on one knee, looking down at Dib sternly. They remained silent for what seemed years, Jhon and Tak's eyes locked on the alien and Zim's locked on the boy. Finally, he looked up at Tak, meeting her eye guardedly.

"You believe, don't you?" he asked quietly.

"I do."

He looked back down at Dib and rose slowly.

"Well I don't. I want him gone in the morning."

"But Zim—" Jhon stood also, angry.

"0r I will get rid of him myself." Zim's eyes glowed in the light. He turned and walked away, returning to Zek and exiting the room through the hole in the wall. Zek followed a moment later.

Tak looked up at Jhon, frowning. He rubbed the back of his neck and returned to his bed, leaving the lantern. Tak leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes, wishing she could sleep. Morning was only hours away, if that. There was a choice to be made, and both Irken and doctor spent their time thinking over the best option. It was obvious, and logical, but not what either of them wanted..

Tak was just about to close her eyes when she heard someone move. She listened as the medical box was sifted though, looked up when Jhon stepped into the light, a filled syringe in his hand.

"No," she said, rising quickly, hands clenching into fists. "No, you're not listening to _him_."

"It's for the best," he replied quietly. "We can't keep this up. We tried, but it didn't work out."

"He is a human," she snapped. "We are trying to _save_ humans, not kill them."

"He's not human! Look at him. He's one of them and you know it."

"No, he's not. I'm not letting you murder him just because Zim has a problem."

"Zim is going to kill it anyways, it's more humane this way."

"Don't call him 'it'!" she narrowed her eyes infuriately.

"Tak, please," the man lowered his voice again. "Be rational. He will suffer at Zim's hand."

"He won't suffer at anyone's hand. I will not let anyone near him."

"It's not safe. We cannot afford to be on the Irken's bad side. We need to all work together or we will all die out here."

"Zim is not leading this outfit," Tak growled. "I am in just the same position as he. I have just the same power, and I say the boy stays."

Jhon considered her for a long moment, frowning. Finally, he sighed and capped the syringe in his hand.

"Alright. But you should think about this." He set the syringe on the floor next to the lantern and moved away. Tak watched him go, then sat back down and looked at the boy.

'_Why am I so fucking concerned?'_ She shook her head and stared down into her lap, not understanding anything. She was worried about how given to emotion she was being. She had never been this way, what had this stupid human done to her?

"Tak," her name whispered again.

"What is it, Dib?"

He shifted to his back and looked up at her tiredly.

"Don't mess this up because of me."

She started to reply, but instead reached over and turned off the lamp. It was growing steadily lighter in the room from the well. She picked up the syringe and lantern and rose, pausing to sigh and then moving to the table to set the things down.

"I admire you," Jhon said softly, sitting up and stretching his arms.

"Why?" she asked, turning to him.

"Because you believe in what you believe. Not many can say that." He stood and rubbed the back of his neck absently.

Tak sighed and looked down at her hands, brushing the soft material of her gloves together.

"How many are ready to travel?"

Jhon looked across the room a moment. "Three, maybe four."

She nodded and glanced back at Dib. "And him?"

"That's your call. I'm not sticking my neck out anymore for him though." Jhon stepped away to check on the others and Tak watched him, worrying her lip gently. She stopped when she realized what she was doing.

'_Nasty human habit,'_ she thought bitterly and felt her antenna twitch at an unexpected sound.

"Who can go?" Zim's voice announced his sudden appearance.

"These three," Jhon replied, helping one man up while two others stood nearby.

"Alright, let's go." Zim looked at Tak, chin raised and eyes questioning. She narrowed hers and looked at Dib pointedly, Zim's gaze following hatefully. The boy was attempting to sit up, shifting so that his back was against the wall and releasing a sigh of effort when he made it. He looked up from his oblivious state and frowned, startled by the the magenta and violet eyes on him.

"Alright Zim," Jhon interrupted as he led the three humans to the Ikren.

"It's going to be rough, so I hope you can make it," Zim said to the men, tearing his eyes away from Dib to look at them skeptically. "You first."

The man nodded and crawled into the hole. The other followed once called and Zim gave one last disapproving look before following them out. Tak caught a glance between Jhon and Dib and sighed, knowing instantly that the doctor was lying when he said he wasn't going to help Dib anymore.

She moved to the boy and sat beside him, leaning back to relax for the time.

"Tak," he said, "I can leave. That way Zim won't throw a hissy fit and kill you all, and you won't have to have my death on your hands."

"No," she replied, holding down the smile that pecked at the edges of her lips from his wording. "You belong here just the same as everyone else. And we're going to fight for it."

Dib sighed and leaned his head back against the wall.

"How are you feeling?" she asked to change the subject.

"Not too good. I think… I'll rest more.." He closed his eyes and a shiver ran up his back, twitching his shoulders.

"Lay down," Tak ordered, and helped him lay back down on his blanket. She frowned and looked up at Jhon who was watching from his perch on the edge of the table. He looked down, but she caught the concern in his eye before he did. She looked down at Dib and bit her lip as the boy was unconscious again.

Dib grew progressively worse as the days went on. Each day Zim and Zek returned to bring food and supplies and to take those who were well enough to walk. They lost another human over the time; his wounds took a turn for the worse as infection set in and finally his life was claimed. They couldn't bury him, so they wrapped him in a blanket and dropped him down the well, not staying to hear the splash at the bottom.

Finally, there were only five humans left, Dib one of them. He, too, had gained an infection that was sapping the life from him slowly. He was almost constantly unconscious, and when he was awake his time was filled with feverish mumblings and occasional thrashing fits.

Jhon had fashioned an IV line for him from scavenged fishtank tubes and Ziploc bags. It was a challenge keeping it safe, and he had only a small supply of bottled water to give Dib. Sometimes Jhon was too nervous to do this, and force-fed him instead. Tak always cringed at this.

Zim came very early in the morning one day. Zek and Skoodge accompanied him, each carrying a small bulging shopping bag.

"What have you brought?" Jhon asked with exhausted enthusiasm.

"Medical supplies," he replied as the other two set the bags down and began taking small white bottles and boxes from them.

"What? Where?" Jhon ran over and began picking them up, looking at the odd labels.

"The Soul's. We raided one of their hospitals."

Jhon nodded, frowning. He didn't trust the medicine, but anything was better than nothing, and the humans left were in bad condition.

"Alright, Tak, help me."

She rose from her place next to Dib and stepped over to him quickly, taking the supplies that were handed to her. He glanced around the room to get his bearings, then started towards the worst-off of the victims. They gave her the medicine and watched in amazement as her wounds healed right before their eyes.

"Incredible.." Jhon breathed, taken by the beauty of it for just a second. He then quickly rose and moved to the next, repeating what needed be done and again watching the same brilliant result.

They healed all the humans and finally moved to Dib, wanting to be sure they had healed everyone else before problems arose with the Irkens, Zim in particular.

"You aren't giving it any of our medicine," Zim growled, having anticipated this.

"Thank you Zim, but I am the doctor here so I will say what goes."

"Skoodge, Zek; take the healed humans back to base. We will follow shortly."

The invaders nodded and began gathering things to take back with them, rolling blankets and gathering armloads of them.

Jhon knelt by Dib and began looking over the supplies Tak held. He selected what he thought would be appropriate and began administering the medication to the boy carefully. Zim was suddenly silent, stalking towards the entrance and watching disapprovingly.

Tak and Jhon sat back and watched as Dib's wounds healed as had the other's. He stirred not long after, mumbling something as his bloodshot silver eyes opened. He looked around at them a moment and Tak helped him to sit up and move against the wall.

"What..?"

"Do you remember me, Dib?" Jhon asked, concerned that after such a long period of unconsciousness, Dib might not recall what had happened.

"Yes," he replied, reaching up to rub at his eyes. He couldn't have been hurt.. he felt too good to have ever been hurt in his life. What the hell had happened to him..?

"Who am I?"

"Doctor Jhon," Dib replied, looking up at him again. His eyes were perfectly clear now and almost shining.

"Good. What is the last thing you remember?"

Dib looked around, frowning. "We were attacked.. I was hiding.. Zim found me." He paused as he thought that was too far back, then looked up at Tak.

"You helped me, before I passed out at the building? I don't know how I got here.."

Tak looked at Jhon with scrutinizing eyes, realizing something she should have thought of earlier. She held her tongue for the moment, but couldn't help but smile at the inward relief that she felt.

"It was Tak's idea," Jhon replied. "We brought you to this place from the building we were previously in."

"Right.." Dib said slowly, rubbing the back of his neck. "And.. where is Zim?"

Tak glanced at Zim. The Irken shifted but said nothing, arms crossed and eyes narrowed to thread-like slits.

"He's here," she replied, meeting Dib's eye to convey a warning. He understood and didn't even look at Zim, just brushed at some dirt on the back of one hand.

"How long have I been unconscious?"

"We've lost track of the days," Jhon sighed, pretending not to notice the silent exchange. "Not long enough for you to have healed on your own, if that's what you're wondering. We used Soul's medicine."

"Soul's medicine? Did it work? Were there any bad effects?"

"We just did, not more than five minutes ago."

Dib frowned in turn, tilting his head in confusion.

"It's… it's that good, I suppose?"

Jhon nodded slowly, though his eyes displayed the excitement he felt at such a thing.

"We need to leave now," Tak spoke up, rising and offering Dib a hand up. He felt his muscles stretch as he stood and couldn't help but obliged them more, lifting his arms over his head and hearing his back pop comfortable. He filled his lungs and sighed, then lifted his gaze to Zim's. The alien was startled for just a split-moment by the sudden contact, but quickly scowled.

"Zim," Tak stepped partially in front of Dib. "Go get some soldiers to help carry things."

"I will help," Dib said, looking down at the shorter female.

"I don't think—"

"It's fine, let me." He didn't give her chance to reply, walking over to where Jhon was packing up. He began gathering things and when he had an armload he moved towards the entrance. Zim watched him as he set the items down and straightened.

"Zim," he growled.

"Soul," was spat back at him.

"I think you're losing ground on that argument."

Zim glanced at Jhon as he stepped up with his own load of items.

"I think not," he hissed, antennae laying flat against his skull.

"Someone want to climb out to start lifting this stuff up?" Jhon asked, brow raised.

Dib and Zim glared at each other for a moment, then Dib turned to the entrance.

"Dib, you're tallest, so you can hand it up. Zim, go on out."

Zim started to rebel, but closed his mouth and climbed out, using his mechanical legs to scale his way out. He braced them against the lip of the well, his body hanging down so he could reach.

Dib moved to the end of the tunnel and looked out, first down then up. Both ways seemed impossibly menacing.

"Alright, ready?"

Jhon began pushing things down the tunnel and Dib grabbed them, handing them up to Zim until everything had been transferred out. He then backed into the tunnel and allowed Tak to go out first, then Jhon.

When Dib moved back to the end of the tunnel, he saw with dismay Zim still hanging above to help him up. Zim scowled down at him but offered a hand. The boy reluctantly took it and held on tightly as he was lifted up, using his other hand and feet to scrabble against the side of the well, not doing a whole lot to help himself.

Zim pulled him up until they were face to face, then grinned and let go. Dib released a cry and snagged at the alien, missing as he fell. He dug his fingers painfully against the sides of the well, falling back down to the entrance of the basement and grabbing onto it for life. He reached up and locked both hands onto the edge, then looked up at Zim murderously.

"0ops." Zim chuckled and disappeared. There were voices, then Tak's face appeared. She gasped and quickly jumped down, mechanical legs extending and scraping against the stony sides of the well to slow her descent, sparks flickering around the tips. She grabbed onto Dib from behind, weeding her arms around his chest.

"Grab onto me," she instructed. He reached behind him and snatched onto her arms, holding on tightly as she lifted the both of them back up using the mechanical legs. The effort made her tremble, but she managed to get them both over the lip of the well and they fell onto the grass, panting.

"Zim you asshole!" Tak snapped, untangling herself from Dib and rising. Zim stood by, smirking bemusedly. Dib, growling, climbed to his feet and clenched his fists at the alien.

"Fucking idiot.." he breathed, fists shaking from leftover adrenaline and anger.

"0h, what, Soul? You gonna do something about it?" Zim snarled back.

"Hey!" Jhon stepped up, bags already slung over his shoulders and blankets piled in his arms. "Enough. Shut the hell up all of you and let's get out of here."

"Right," Tak agreed, knowing they would get nowhere fighting here. She picked up some things and shoved them into Zim's arms, then took her own load and followed Zim as he started walking.

Dib quickly gathered what was left and followed along beside Tak, keeping an eye around for danger. He knew he was the least vulnerable of the group, but he didn't want anything to befall Tak or Jhon. Screw Zim though. He could rot in hell, or whatever eternal bad-place the Irkens believed in.. if one at all.


	12. Where Will I Sleep

They reached the house with no trouble. It wasn't big at all, four bedrooms, three bath, upstairs-downstairs, laundry room, dining room, kitchen, living room. A large house.. but not for seventy-some humans and Irkens, plus all of their supplies.

Dib looked around when they stepped inside, expecting to see people crammed everywhere but, much to his surprise, people were scarce, some laid out on abandoned couches and sitting on the floor.

"Where is everyone?" he asked, following Zim to one of the upstairs room where Jhon was to set up shop.

"This isn't the only house we are occupying," Skoodge, who had joined them up the stairs, replied.

Jhon looked around the room and made a face, but said nothing, setting his equipment down and sighing as he began unpacking. Dib and Tak set their things near his and turned to leave, but frowned at Zim impeding their way. Eyes narrowed, he watched as Zek stepped in bearing rope.

"What are you doing?" Tak asked warily, shifting closer to Dib.

"We can't just let it roam around," Zim replied as Zek stepped up to Dib and seized his arms. The man didn't resist, not wanting to start trouble. Zek bound his wrists together behind his back and started to lead him from the room but Jhon in turn moved into their path.

"It can stay here with me. I might have use of it."

Zim looked the man up and down a moment, speculating, then nodded. "Very well."

Zek released Dib with rather a look of disgust and they left. Tak glared after them, then looked to Dib, frowning. She was to untie him but Jhon stopped her, shaking his head. She frowned, but understood and sighed.

"Alright Dib, I will be back later. I have to go to help organize."

Dib nodded with a grim smile. "Thank you."

She patted his arm, then left and Dib turned to Jhon.

"Take a seat, make yourself comfortable, tell me about yourself," Jhon said as he continued to unpack and arrange things on the small card table that had been found and brought to the room. Dib took a seat on the bed and sighed.

"Well, when I was very young I had this dog.."

Jhon glanced up at him, brow quirked, and Dib laughed.

"No joke? Tell me about this dog of your's."

Dib chuckled more and shook his head.

"What about yourself? How did you get mixed up in all this?"

The doc took his time answering, tinkering with some items of his as if they required all that much care.

"I was just one of the survivors, hiding out in a basement with a few others. Zim found us and I just took over the job of doctor, since I'm the most qualified."

Dib nodded slowly. "You're a valuable asset to this mission, I assume."

"0h yes, the Irkens.. they know nothing about human medicine. Totally useless."

Dib smiled again.

"You came from that unsuccessful hospital raid, right?" Jhon asked, setting a few things up on a wall shelf.

"Unsuccessful in their opinion.." he grumbled before answering, "Yes, I was trapped in one of the hospitals. They hadn't gotten to me yet. Although.." he trailed off, thinking about his appearance and frowning. Jhon glanced back at him again.

"Don't know how you got that way?"

Dib shook his head. Jhon stepped over, taking a penlight from his pocket and kneeling in front of the man. He shone it in Dib's eyes and made a face.

"The silver's there alright, no doubting that. Lean forward." He rose and looked at the back of Dib's neck, frowning and running a finger over the scar there.

"You sure you're not a Soul?" he asked, stepping back and crossing his arms. Dib frowned, looking up at him.

"I don't think so although.. I'm not sure what being a Soul is like, so how can I tell?"

"Remember the working Souls?"

"Yeah." Dib frowned, reflecting a moment on their fate.

"Are you like them?"

"No."

"Then you're not a Soul." Jhon slid the pen back into his pocket and returned to his work. "Baffles me though, you sure as hell look like one."

Dib sighed again and was to lie down but someone suddenly entered the room, startling him.

"Jhon, we need you."

"What's happened?" he asked, straightening from his work and stepping over to the woman.

"Mark, he's hurt himself! I think he's broken his wrist."

Dib watched as they left the room, returning minutes later with the man Mark, holding his wrist against himself and wincing. Dib quickly moved out of the way, going to stand in a corner, much to the woman's displeasing glare.

Jhon had Mark sit down and began examining his wrist, moving it this way and that and pressing at different places with his thumbs. Mark held his tongue, but his face clearly betrayed pain.

"It's not broken. Fractured, possibly, or maybe a bad sprain. What were you doing?" The doctor stepped over to his bag and began rooting around.

"I was just trying to lift a box, but it fell and I caught it wrong."

"Well don't do it again, our supplies are too precious for this shit," Jhon replied, taking a roll of white bandage to the man and wrapping his wrist. "I have nothing for pain. You're going to have to deal with it."

Mark nodded, thanked him, and left, but not without a venomous glare at Dib.

Jhon looked at Dib, making a face, and the two shared in a small laugh after the door was closed.

"You're quite the asset," Dib smiled, reclaiming his seat on the bed.

"Apparently. That man's an idiot though. Always coming to me with something stupid. Plus his wife thinks he's just the king puppy shits."

Dib laughed again, enjoying the feeling he'd not had in so long. "Women," he said between chuckles. "Always something else, huh?"

"Yeah something else.." Jhon smiled and turned back to his organizing.

"I've never been involved with one, so I guess I can't say much."

Jhon glanced back at him. "It's not so bad."

Dib tilted his head, sensing something under the surface.

"You would know..?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah." Jhon paused and Dib looked at his hands for the first time. A dulled silver band clung around his left ring finger and Dib frowned, new understanding dawning for him. They remained in silence for awhile after that, Jhon finishing his organizing and then taking to staring out the window.

"Hey," Dib said quietly. He was favored with a curious glance. "I miss my family."

Jhon smiled, turning to lean against the wall.

"I do too."

Dib nodded, then looked up as Tak peeked in.

"Brought food," she said, slipping into the room and locking the door behind her. She set a plate and a small box down on the bed.

"I'm sorry Dib, they wouldn't let me bring you anything."

Dib frowned, watching as she opened the box. Inside was a full meal of beef, boiled baby carrots, and unskinned potatoes. She took a fork from her pocket and handed it to him.

"I hope they don't notice," she grumbled, sitting beside him and passing a fork to Jhon.

He sat down with his plate and the two began to eat as if they hadn't seen food in days, Dib especially.

When they finished, Dib closed the box again and hid it under the bed along with the fork.

"Thank you Tak," Jhon said, cleaning his plate entirely and handing it back to her. She rose, smiling, and left to help with the dishes.

They continued to eat that way for the next couple weeks. Except for the ones who came in for medical assistance, and the times when Dib had to sneak out to the bathroom, he was mostly forgotten about. Those who did remember and realize his presence at the house never bothered to ask what he was eating, assuming he was just being fed from Jhon's plate.

Jhon had untied him, only binding him when someone came to visit. He slept in the medical room, Tak having brought a cot into the room, claiming it was Jhon's orders. Mostly, it was whatever Jhon says goes.

Dib didn't quite realize but he had picked up a lot of knowledge from watching Jhon work, and as he was always one to question, he had gained a great deal of medical know-how from the man.

It would come in handy one day.

Jhon and Dib were awoken in the night by a fevered knocking at the door. Jhon jumped up to answer while Dib moved into his corner.

"What? What's happened?" Jhon asked as he opened the door, unfazed by his sudden transition from sleep to action.

"We found this man outside," Zim growled as himself and Zek carried a man inside. Tak followed behind closely. "He was collapsed on the front steps, begging to be let inside."

Jhon took his pen light from his pocket and began looking the young man over as he was laid on the bed.

"What's wrong?" he asked the writhing man, unable to locate any visible wounds. The man reached into his jacket slowly and drew a gun, swinging it at the doctor and firing.

Dib jumped at the sound, unable to see much more than the moonlight allowed. He stepped forward uneasily, not knowing what to do.

The light fell to the ground, spilling under the bed and casting an eerie glow from underneath it. Zim snatched for the gun, darting forward but recoiling back again with a grunt as it was fired again.

The man swung the gun towards Dib but before he could squeeze the trigger a mechanical leg shot from Zek's PAK, stabbing deep into his chest. The man's eyes widened and he tried to gasp, but no air would save him and he fell limply against the bed, the gun falling to the floor beside him. Zek stepped back, retracting the leg and looking grimly at the blood dripping from it. He turned to Zim, kneeling beside him as Tak and Dib rushed to Jhon's side.

"Jhon?" Tak knelt beside him and pressed a hand against his chest. Dib stood over her, staring down silently. He knew the doctor was dead. The bullet had struck dead-center the man's head.

"Damnit!" Tak snarled, bowing her head and clenching her fists.

"Tak," Zek called quietly. The two glanced at where he crouched beside Zim. Dib picked up the light as Tak moved over to him.

Zim clenched his hand against his side, shivering and shifting with pain. Dib turned the small beam of light on him and took kneel next to the alien.

"Get away from me, fucking creature!" Zim spat at Dib.

"Hang the drapes," Dib ordered Tak. She nodded and quickly lifted a heavy black blanket to the window, hanging it over the abandoned curtain rod and securing it with tacks against the sides of the wall.

"Candles," he ordered next and Zek helped light some, setting them on the shelves. Dib clicked the light off in the glow of the candles and rose.

"Help me move him to the cot."

Together with Tak and Zek, Dib gently lifted the invader and laid him on the cot. Zek looked at him suspiciously, but didn't object.

"Stay away from me!" Zim hissed, baring his teeth at Dib.

"Zek, get that man out of here," Dib ordered and Zek hesitated, then turned and left the room to fetch a blanket to carry the body in.

"Hold still Zim," Tak said, watching closely as Dib took a knife from the desk and began cutting away the invader's uniform. Zim growled but did as told, watching closely every move the man made.

"Get me a bowl of hot water and the tools." Dib set the knife down and clicked on the light to look closer at the wound. It wasn't bad, considering, and the point-blank range had actually helped the alien more than hurt. Tak gathered the things he asked, along with a cloth he forgot to request. She poured water into the bowl from a bottle and heated it over several flames, ignoring the burning warmth through her gloves as the metal heated. She held the bowl, watching as Dib dipped the cloth in, wrung it out good, and then folded it and pressed it against the wound.

Zim hissed through his teeth, eyes closing, hands clenching. Dib left the cloth there to soak the blood and picked up the bag, withdrawing a syringe and finding the appropriate bottle. He filled the syringe and leaned over Zim again.

The Irken looked at him and snarled, striking out and knocking the bowl from Tak's hands as he did so. She leaned away from the flying water, falling to her side as she narrowly missed being splashed. Dib narrowed his eyes and grabbed the alien's arm, forcing it against the bed and holding it there. The Irken tested Dib's long-unused muscles, but the man managed to hold firm as Tak pinned his other arm and he gave the injection.

"Zim, calm the hell down," Tak growled as she was fought against.

"This will quiet him," Dib said, tossing the spent needle aside and clicking open the box of tools. He took the pair of needle-nosed tongs and waited, watching as Zim began to slow and finally relaxed against the cot, panting softly and watching through slatted eyes.

"Keep an eye on him, I only gave a moderate dose."

Tak nodded and laid hands on Zim's arms as Dib began his work.

It took an hour, but he managed to extract the bullet lodged against the muscles of Zim's back. He had gotten lucky; it missed most everything important by a hair's breadth.

"Alright," Dib said as he finished the last of the stitching. "I think he's okay."

"He's an Irken; we heal fast if given the chance." Tak stepped back and crossed her arms. Dib glanced at where Jhon had laid and sighed softly. Zek had silently removed both bodies, but the blood was still there.

"Watch him, I will be right back," Dib said, stepping from the room quickly.

"Dib wait, you can't—" He didn't wait to hear the rest, running down the hall, following the blood droplets. He nearly ran into Zek rounding a corner.

"Where are the bodies?" he panted.

"Basement. They are going to burn them in the furnace."

Dib ran to the basement, flinging open the door and taking the steps two at a time. He burst in on the furnace room where one body had already been placed inside.

Going to the one on the floor, he knelt and slowly peeled back the blanket, frowning at the bloody face. Unfolding the blanket more, he lifted the doctor's hand and dipped his head to touch his cheek against the cooling skin, much to the bafflement of the two humans standing by to burn the body.

"Go well, sir," Dib breathed, then removed the doctor's ring and laid his hand against his side again. He wrapped the bloody blanket around him again and rose, clutching the ring in his palm.

He didn't look up as he turned and walked back upstairs, ignoring the glares and curious looks alike from everyone.

"Dib," Tak met him in the hall, having come to seek him out. He glanced up at her, meeting her eye a moment and then looking back down at his hand, slowly uncurling his fingers. She, too, looked down at the silver band and sighed softly.

"Zim needs you," she said, recognizing Dib's medical skill and knowing she couldn't come close to helping.

They returned to the room upstairs to be greeted by Zim's complaining form, attempting to move from the cot.

"Lay the hell down," Dib said, stepping over to him and crossing his arms. Zim glared up at him but slowly did as told.

"Since when do I take orders from you, Dib-shit?"

"Since you decided to get shot."

Tak covered a smile, coughing into her hand and turning away. Dib glanced again at the blood and spilt water, then looked up at Tak firmly.

"Get someone in here to clean this up."

She nodded and left the room. Dib began stripping the sheets off the bed, balling them up so that the blood was on the inside and tossing them into the hallway. He did the same with the blanket and just threw the whole pillow out. The blood hadn't soaked through to the mattress, but the smell was terrible. Even Zim's antennae twitched at the sharp metallic scent stirred up by Dib's activities.

Two humans came with what cleaning supplies they had managed to find during the stay at the house and, hesitant under Dib's orders, began cleaning up the floor. Dib watched from the corner, only instead of hiding out of the way, he was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, watching sternly.

They finished up quickly and left, casting confused looks at Dib, Zim, and Tak. Dib raised his chin challengingly and they said nothing, gathering the bloody things and toting them down to the furnace room.

"How are you feeling?" Dib asked, shifting to Zim and glaring down at him.

"Fine," he growled back. Dib nodded and looked out at a passing human.

"You, bring us some food!" he ordered. They paused and opened their mouth for a sharp reply, but their eyes befell Zim and they hurried on to do as told. No one would question Dib so long as Zim was there.

Tak sat on the bed and watched, secretly transfixed by Dib's sudden new attitude. It seemed he was waiting for his moment of authority, and was using it well. She didn't oppose. Now that Zim was in no position to threaten, let the humans and Irkens alike know about Dib. They wouldn't believe him to be human no matter what they were told, but maybe they would be convinced to work with him.

The man brought two plates of food, handing one to Tak and the other to Dib. He started to leave, but Dib cocked his head and growled.

"Why didn't you bring Zim some food?" he asked deliberately. The man turned and started to reply, but Tak shot him a look and he left the room with a silent sigh, returning minutes later with another plate. Dib snatched it from him and sent him out with a nod. The man lingered a questioning look by Zim, then left quickly, likely going to gossip to the other's what had happened.

Dib set his plate on the table and pulled a chair over. He prodded Zim's arm to arouse him from his fleeting nap and handed him the plate. He then took up his own and turned to Tak.

"So you guys eat food now?"

"Well," she set her fork down. "We can't find any type of sweet or sugar that we typically eat, so we have to compensate somehow.. Can't go without eating." She poked at her vegetables with the fork and continued eating, doing so without looking at the food. Dib watched her struggle with the food, obviously sickened by it. He pondered at what that would be like as he ate his own.

Zim downed his quickly and without thought, then held out the plate for Dib to take. Dib glanced at him, brow raised.

"Your arm's not broken," he said, taking another savoring bite of the measly portion of unknown meat (and by unknown, he really didn't want to know).

Zim narrowed his eyes, but shifted, reaching to set it on the table and then settling back down to the bed. He glared at the ceiling, willing himself healed so he could murder Dib.

The human finished off his meal and stacked his plate, along with Tak's. He called on the next being to pass the room to take them to the kitchen, which they did begrudgingly under the glower of Tak.

They lived the next two days like this, all under Dib's orders. Until day three.


	13. And Wind for an Eye

****AUTH0R'S N0TE****

**~Thanks to JaedtheEcho for providing important research for this chapter.**

**Promotional: If you have a moment, please check out STEVER on Myspace music and YouTube. Her music is amazing. If you would like to help out with the production of her second album, send her a letter requesting an autographed CD. Tell her Ravyntree sent you.**

The three days Zim spend under Dib's care he had spent assessing himself, working until he could sit up and strengthening his healing. The third night, he found himself better. Much better.

He rose from his bed quietly, glowing crimson eyes watching the Dib as he slept. Tak was away; off doing her shift of guard duties. Zim tested his weight, standing for a time until he was sure he could stand and walk without problem. Stepping into the hall, he beckoned the nearest Irken guard and took their gun, hushing their questions as he moved like a shadow back into the room. The alien lifted his chin in contempt and struck the sleeping man over the back of the head, deepening his rest considerably and then returning the weapon to the guard.

"Call others, take him to the lab," Zim growled, crossing his arms against the pain that nagged at him from his still-healing wound. It itched, of all irritating things.

The guard nodded and fetched two others to help him transport Dib downstairs, someone watching for Tak whom was stationed on the roof. They wrapped the boy in a blanket and carried him out like a dead body, swiftly leaving the area until it was safe to move to the ship.

Tak watched them curiously, frowning at the direction they took. She squinted as she thought about it. They had not any Souls to be taking to the ship. Unless..

She gasped and ran inside.

"Who did you take?" she snarled when she reached the medical room, not finding Dib or Zim and knowing damn well who they took. She snatched the Irken guard by the throat and shoved him against the wall.

"Take your hands off me," he replied, glaring.

"I am your commanding officer I will put my hands wherever the hell I please! Now tell me where the human is."

"Gone," he replied, saying what Zim had told him to, even though they all knew Tak wouldn't believe it for a moment. "He died in his sleep. The Soul knew we had him pinned and shredded the body."

"Fucking liar," Tak spat, shoving the alien to the ground and storming away to find Zim.

Dib awoke, disoriented and pained. He blinked at the harsh lights above him, glaring down with a power he'd not seen in months. Turning his head, he blinking hazily at the green-skinned and red-eyed beings watching him, chatting amongst themselves like college kids watching a game. Dib looked up at the lights again, far more comforted by their unyielding bright than the sparkle in the Irken's eyes.

"He's awake, let's begin," one of the Irken said, stepping forward and donning a pair of gloves. Dib squinted at him and made no reply, able to see his silver reflected in the large eyes of the aliens. He looked away.

"I told you, it killed itself," Zim replied with his smug expression, hardly giving attention to Tak as he busied himself with barking orders at the guards.

"I don't even need to tell you that you are lying," Tak snapped. She paused a moment to collect her thoughts, glancing over the Irkens moving to do as Zim instructed. It was obvious that, although she was in the same position of authority as he, they feared him more.

"He went to the ship, didn't he?"

Zim didn't reply. He didn't need to. Tak, antennae pinned, hissed at him and turned away, forcing her way through Zim's personal array of guards and seeking out one she thought might help her.

She found him on the roof, having taken over her duties for her.

"Invader Kai, a word please," she ordered in her no-shit commander voice. The Irken followed her into the stairwell, standing tall and trying his damndest to look official.

Tak glanced around and leaned closer to the alien.

"Listen to me, Dib has been taken to the ship. I need to find him. Will you assist me?"

Kai tilted his head, glancing down the stairs warily and then back at her.

"What is the meaning of this? Do you wish to spot me out as a betrayer or abandoner?" he asked suspiciously.

"No."

He considered her, then nodded and shouldered the weapon he carried.

"Alright then, let's go."

Tak smiled grimly and started down the stairs. Kai led her to the ground floor, towards a back exit way that they could take to sneak into the trees close to the rear of the house.

Zek stood, leaned against the door awaiting their arrival. Kai straightened immediately and laid a hand on Tak's shoulder. She growled, but looked up at him when his hand gripped her.

"Invader Tak was going against orders, attempting to seek out the Soul and liberate him," Kai snapped off the words as if they were rehearsed.

"Thank you Kai," Zek smiled and stepped forward, taking Tak's weapon and turning it on her. Kai nodded and stepped back, crossing his hands behind his back and taking up Zek's place by the door. Tak glared at him as she was led away. Kai met her eye a moment and twitched an antennae, the Irken equivalent of winking. Tak faced forward, understanding.

Dib shivered as something cold touched the skin of his wrist, pricking him.

"Silver," the Irken said, holding up the syringe with its bit of silvery-red blood. "Curious.."

"What?" Another Irken stepped into view, squinting at the vial.

"Not so much as most. Almost as if its.. separated from the cells."

"That is odd. Perhaps he's fresh? Not fully integrated."

"No," the alien capped the needle and looked down at Dib. "He's been around."

They removed his glasses and forced his eyes open, peering at the silvery shine and making notes, comments, opinions. They took turns examining the scar on the back of his neck and comparing it with photographs of others.

Dib laid quietly through it all, waiting for something to come about that would either save him or prove him human. When they began discussing radiation, he decided enough was enough.

He struggled against his restraints, spitting at them when they dared get close enough and managing to bite one when they tried to silence him. He tasted the disgusting alien blood as it seeped into his mouth around his teeth and promptly let go, spitting again and coughing for good measure.

"Tranq him," one of the Irkens called. More cold. Another prick, this one in the curve of his arm and he soon felt light-headed. His struggles ceased as he thought '_Irken drugs are powerful.. _'

He watched through muddled vision as things were moved, he was moved, at one point. Sounds, smells.. he didn't understand. Words went right over his head. Someone spoke to him at one point and he responded.. What did he say? Never mind, it doesn't matter. What is that sensation..? Does it matter?

"I am an Irken elite commander you cannot keep me.. imprisoned!" she spat the last word with such venom the guard stationed to keep her in the room recoiled slightly. But his expression was set, as was the weapon trained loosely on the doorway from where he stood across the hall.

"Say all you want, Invader Zim is in charge here," he replied, glancing up and down the hall absently.

"I am in the exact same position as he and you know it! Why are you so fucking afraid of him?" Tak turned away, not awaiting any answer. She didn't want to hear the foolishness anyways. It was bias, pure and simple. Because this is _his_ planet. _His_ mission. He started it. And by Irk she would finish it.

The Tallest had lost their fool heads. Zim was hated, sure. But he had finally proven himself, and for what? To be put in charge of saving a world that he set out to destroy? She knew the plot. Destroy the Souls, eradicate them from the human world, then seize it in the name of Irk. The humans here, they didn't know. Their fate was to become slaves to the Irken empire. Funny how humans hope. So they trust some aliens who promise to save them from some other aliens? Stupid.

She peeked around the curtain slightly, narrowing her eyes against the brightness of the day and scanning the debris of the other ruined buildings for any signs of life. She knew where the ship had been hidden. And she knew damned well what went on there. '0h Dib' was all she could think, aside from the anger and hatred she suddenly held for her own kind. Mostly Zim.

"Check him." The voice came quite suddenly, slicing through the troubled dream Dib was experiencing. He opened his eyes and blinked, his hazy unconsciousness having melted into normal sleep somewhere along the way. An Irken stepped into his view and shined a light in his eyes, flicking it back and forth and shaking his head.

"Nothing."

Dib blinked and shifted. He was still restrained to the place he had been before, but.. he was in a different place. The lights were gone; replaced by some.. machine. He squinted at it, but didn't recognize the Irken symbols on it.

"Never," someone else sighed. "Alright, bring him in."

The restraints were loosened and removed. Dib thought to fight, but he seemed unable to find his limbs, which added to his confusion. Two Irkens moved him into a very Earthly wheelchair (thieving Irkens.. can't just stick to their own damn ideas) where his wrists were strapped to the arms. He looked down at it skeptically, thought it was just easier for him to look down because his head quite abruptly weighed far more than it ever should have.

The pushed him from the room as he focused on his fingers, struggling to flex them. Move them. Just twitch them. Nothing. Not a stir. This disturbed him more than anything. He was presented with a small trash can in his lap, which he stared at in confusion for a moment before a great upset in his stomach told him why. He made good use of the can and it was promptly taken away as he moaned, leaning over the chair and spitting on the floor to rid the taste from his mouth. It didn't help.

"What… What the hell did you do to me?" he drabbled, unable to make his tongue work exactly as his mind instructed it. Nobody answered him, and why should they? He was just an alien.

They took him to another room and he was sat in the corner as the Irkens discussed 'treatments' and 'exposure'. Dib watched them undaunted as they looked him over from their distance, taking notes and arguing over 'effects'. He noticed something to his left and expended the energy to lift his head and look. He wished he hadn't.

Pictures lined the wall, 'before and after' shots. Case shots. All humans. Well.. human bodies. Their eyes told that their original inhabitants were no longer in charge of their bodies.

Some weren't so bad, but most were grotesque, faces normal in the 'before' twisted and contorted, burned and melted in 'after'. Dib frowned as horror grew in his chest, gripping him as his recognition of the images dawned on him.

Radiation. Fucking radiation did this to faces, to people. And lots of it. He snapped his gaze back to the Irkens and growled.

"What are you doing? Are you trying to fry the Souls out of humans?" He glanced back down at his hands, his unmoving, distant hands, and shook his head violently, wishing he knew what had happened to make him this way. He began to struggle again, this time all in his head. He couldn't even feel the smooth metal under his hand, so numb was his skin.

"Answer me, goddamnit! I am a human being, I have a right to know!"

The Irken exchanged glances and chuckled.

"Not here."

Dib glowered at them and released the puff of a breath he had been holding to explode at them again. He had nothing more to say, though a thousand curses danced on his tongue. He kept his gaze away from the images on the walls, and the sickening notes and comments that were pinned along with them. He didn't even glance up when they moved him again, taking him to another room and preparing some other torment for him to endure for the sake of their 'treatment.'

"You are relieved, sir."

Tak glanced over her shoulder, antennae twitching. Her guard passed off his weapon and she looked forward again as Kai took up guard position. Soon after the guard left, just as twilight was creeping over the world, Kai stepped into the room and closed the door. Tak turned and was startled to find Kai close to her. He drew an Earthly handgun from his PAK and pressed it into her hand. She wrapped her fingers around it and nodded silently, gazing grimly up at his face. They ventured out into the hall, Tak tucking the weapon into her own PAK and crossing her arms as she went ahead of him.

"Sir?" a voice from behind. They both paused and glanced at the human.

"What?" Kai hefted his gun and frowned impatiently.

"Where are you taking the prisoner?"

'_Prisoner! My how word spreads fast..'_ Her eyes narrowed and she had to hold in a laugh.

"To the bathroom, human. Get back to your business." Kai gave Tak a nudge with the gun and they started walking again as the human nodded and did as told.

'_Lucky thing he doesn't know much about Irkens,'_ she thought, reflecting on Irken's abilities to digest just about everything. Bathrooms were for lowly creatures with lowly digestive systems.

They moved into the bathroom, Kai following her in and locking the door.

"Alright," she whispered. "You first."

He nodded and opened the small window, worming his way out and dropping to the ground, using his mechanical legs to absorb the impact. He backed with the house and Tak dropped a moment after.

They exchanged another look, then started through the yard towards the trees, now shrouded in full dark. No moon tonight.

The two began their journey to the flightless, broken ship, covering more ground with the mechanical legs, but not nearly enough.

Dib watched, helplessly paralyzed and tethered, as he was tapped for more blood. They took enough to save a dying kid and he had to struggle to keep himself conscious. They did give him water, to which he was grateful, and a small bit of bread that made him sick again. They couldn't quite get their little trashcan to him, and he smirked smugly as they were forced to clean his mess off the floor. He was given a short refraction period before they were ready for the next test.

As they wheeled him down the hall to another room, he glanced into one of the rooms and again wished he hadn't. There was another, tied to a table screaming as his chest was being slowly sliced and pried open. Dib looked down at his lap, not wanting to see anymore on his trip.

He was placed in what seemed like a normal hospital operating room, only with Irken symbols and labeling penned on the human equipment. Dib looked at the table in disinterest as he was sat next to an oxygen concentrator. He resisted with a toss of his head as they placed the mask over his face and adjusted it to a tight fit. Dib glared half-heartedly and sighed, feeling the warmth of his breath rebound against the mask and brush his cheeks. The Irkens gathered around, some holding pads and pens and others just watching.

0ne turned on the machine, adjusting dials and levels and all such manner of things. Dib looked down, suddenly very awkward at being the center of such attention. He stared at his lap again, thinking private thoughts of escape and mass murder and Irken blood spattering the walls. He felt his eyelids grow heavier and blinked harshly, reprimanding them even as he felt a crushing light-headed exhaustion fall over him. He flicked his eyes at the machine and realized with alarm what they were doing. He jerked his head up again in rebellion, but it was no use fighting it. He drooped again and passed out as he could no longer fight it, the carbon dioxide they were giving him taking effect.

_Surrounded. Surrounded by Them. 'Safe,' They said. 'You are safe.'_

'_No, I'm not safe here.. You are not human!' he shouted._

'_Safe now.. Safe here, with us.. We will fix you…'_

'_No no no.' But it was of no use, no matter how much he screamed and struggled. They had him. They were going to turn him into one of Them. He watched with horror as They prepared Their instruments. He was strapped to a table. Cold stainless steel bit into his skin and he shivered against it. As he watched, They brought in a tank. A cyrotank, if he remembered Their terminology correctly. They set it on the table beside him and he growled at it. They moved in closer, surrounding him… surrounded.._

Hell encompassed him when he awoke, pricking at every nerve, crawling over every inch of skin. The man opened his eyes and groaned at the bright lights over him once again. He was on his back, strapped to a cold table, stripped of all but the most minimum of clothing. He blinked and turned his head as he felt his fingers twitch, looking down at them as he realized his new ability to move. He curled his fingers and, for just a moment, was contented in that simple motion.

"Hold still, Soul," a grating voice instructed. Dib shifted his eyes over the room, but so bright were the lights blinding him that he could barely make out shadows beyond his table. He smirked and continued moving his fingers, taking joy in the freedom of it.

Murmuring, annoyed huffs of sighs. Let them be pissy. If they wanted to stop him, let them. He had his hands back and by the stars, he was going to move them.

The finally stepped forward after all their talk and discussion. 0ne placed his hands to either side of Dib's head and turned it so that they could look at the scar once again.

"Alright, let's begin," the Irken said, releasing Dib and taking up a box of gloves. He handed them around to the other Irkens and they all slipped on a pair and began setting up more instruments from a box under his table.

"What are you doing?" Dib asked, glaring at one who stood by idly, watching the activity. She didn't reply.

"As a prisoner and a subject, I demand to know what you are doing!" he snapped, catching her attention. She sighed.

"You are no longer of use to us. All of our tests have yielded no results."

"And? What now?"

"Now we will attempt to remove you manually from the body you inhabit."

Dib narrowed his eyes further. "Has this worked before?"

"No."

He closed his eyes a moment, fighting the panic that clawed its way towards the surface from where it was buried deep within him. He took a deep breath and a memory, bright and burning as ice, flared up from a strange but familiar scent that suddenly entered his system.

'_Put him under.' The voice chilled him. It sounded human, but it wasn't. _The memory began to break up, fractured by time and purposeful forgetting. _Something pressed against his face.. That smell.. He fought it._

'_Lay your head down, child,' a voice sweet as honey whispered in his ear. 'Go to sleep…' Dib looked deep into silver-shined, soulless eyes.. Soul eyes._

Dib's eyes snapped open as a mask was set over his face, feeding him anesthetic substance this time and he shook his head violently, surprising the Irken who was administering it.

"No!" He shouted, struggling against his restraints with renewed vigor. He knew what happened to him. He had known all along.

"Let me go, fucking let go!" he screamed. "I'm not a Soul! I'm not one of Them!"

Gloved hands held him still as the alien pressed the mask to his face once again. He tried not to breathe, though he knew such was a hopeless fight.

The door opened. It slammed against the back wall and everyone looked up.

Tak stood in the doorway, Kai flanking her. Both held weapons drawn and poised at the Irkens standing over Dib.

"Step away," she commanded. They glanced at each other and did as told, one by one, recognizing her as their commanding officer. Zim had not yet gotten word to them about Tak's imprisonment.

Dib sucked in a breath as he could no longer hold out and his head swam with the sudden intake of the strong anesthetic. The Irken over him removed the mask and set it down, stepping back as the two invaders moved in on them. Tak holstered her weapon and Kai kept the others in check.

"Dib?" she touched his cheek in concern, eyes taking in his pale and weakened body. "What happened to you?"

He blinked up at her hazily and she began unstrapping him. He realized vaguely that he was for the most part naked before her and felt a distant touch of embarrassment. She didn't seem to mind as she released him and looked around the room.

"Where are his things?" she demanded of one of the researchers.

"In a bag, under the table," they replied nervously, confused by the turn of events.

Tak turned back to Dib, touching his cheek again and frowning at how cold he was.

She snatched a chart from the nearest Irken and looked over his notes, eyes darkening with anger as she read the experiments and 'treatments' they had administered to the man. She threw the board on the floor and tried to remember in her anger that they were only doing as told. The hell with that.. She would have them all demoted when this was over.

"Stop!" An Irken female suddenly ran into the room, waving a clipboard. "Stop, don't—" She paused and looked at Tak and Kai in confusion.

"What is it?" Tak asked tensely.

"Good day, Invader Tak," she said, twitching her antennae in polite greeting of her superior.

"What the hell do you want?"

"Ah, I came to, eh, tell the researchers a test result.."

The doctors looked interested, but dared not speak with Kai's weapon still in view.

"What?" Tak growled, expecting more news of some atrocious experiment.

"We ran some extensive tests on the subject's blood," she glanced down at the papers in her hand. "It contains the alien silver components, like all the others, but it seems that instead of being infused with the blood cells, the silver is separate. Furthermore, the subject's own blood cells are taking over the alien blood, small bits at a time."

"What does that mean?" 0ne of the scientists stepped up, unheeding of Kai's warning.

"I would have to do more testing but.. If I'm right then.. it means this subject is defeating the parasite, or possibly already has."

Everyone looked at Dib, who was still a little delirious. Tak laid a hand on his shoulder and held back the smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth. She looked at one of the doctors.

"What would you need to confirm this?" she snapped at him.

He flustered a moment, then replied, "More blood tests, observation of the subject's condition.."

She glanced down at the man.

"You've taken too much blood today as is. We will wait here until tomorrow. I will keep watch over him."

Not one argued with her. Kai lifted the groggy Dib from the table and carried him to a room with a cot, laying him down. They clothed him again and covered him with a blanket. Tak took a seat on the end of the bed and Kai stood outside the room, keeping watch. They remained that way long into the night and early hours of the morning, Dib slipping into sleep at some point and enjoying the deepest sleep he'd had in awhile. Tak decided to let him rest, seeing what all he had been through. At one point during the night she'd had to help him to a facility to be sick, which she did grimly, watching the poor man void himself of whatever he had left. She gave him some water and put him back to bed.

She watched over him as he slept on into the day and was to wake him around noon, but she didn't have to as a familiar voice shouted from down the hall, disrupting everyone.

She closed her eyes a moment and reached for her weapon.


	14. What Will I Hunt

****AUTH0R'S N0TE****

**I would like to make a tribute to Steve Jobs. He is a good man, and he brought a lot of good to the world. So, I give a personal thank you to Steve himself, and my deepest condolences to his family, friends, and fans.**

**~Thanks to Blair VanRiley and JaedtheEcho for assistance in research for this and the previous chapter. You guys are great.**

Kai backed into the room, hands raised, eyes gleaming angrily. Zim stepped in after him, weapon drawn and aimed with deadly accuracy.

"Get the fuck up against that wall, you betraying son of a bitch!" the Irken snarled, waving his gun at one corner. Kai did as told, backing with it and crossing his arms. Zim stepped forward and took his weapon, dismantling it and throwing it into the hall. He then turned full-bristled on Tak and Dib. For the briefest of instants, not a word was spoken. Then Dib stirred, mumbling something in his fevered sleep and turning over.

Zim moved the gun to the human's head, but Tak stepped in the way.

"Get out of the way, Tak," Zim growled. "0r I will kill you."

"Go ahead. Spill Irken blood. You will be shot for it, and you know it." She hissed her challenge, hoping Zim smart enough to listen to her.

He met her eye a moment, then snarled a frustrated sound and lowered the weapon.

"Why?" he asked, fully exasperated.

"Because he is human."

Zim shook his head violently and raised the gun again.

"He is not. Look at him! He is one of Them. You have thrown away your career, your entire life, for this.. thing!"

Tak reached behind her, not moving from her defensive position, and shook Dib's shoulder. The man stirred again and groaned in agony as a crushing headache greeted him as sweetly as any morning songbird roused too early.

Zim stepped closer, training the weapon on Dib now.

"Get out of my way. I am going to end this like I should have done long ago."

"You touch him.. and I will kill you," the girl breathed, raw emotion poured into every word.

Zim stepped up and faced her eye to eye. He lifted his other arm to strike her from his way, but a cool hand grabbed his wrist. The Irken started to jerk away, thinking it Tak, but paused when he felt the strange skin. Tak turned and they both looked down.

Amber eyes, pure and shining, stared back at them with only the most human-like of anger.

"Dib!" Tak gasped.

Zim stared down at him silently, the shine in his own eyes quivering as thoughts and feelings flashed beneath their surface.

The man narrowed his eyes and released Zim, struggling and sitting up. Tak offered help, but he did it on his own and moved to the edge of the bed, rising on shaking legs and drawing to his full height.

Zim cocked his head to look up at the man with an unimpressed, guarded eye.

"Put that away, Zim," Dib growled, grabbing his own shaking right hand to hold it still so as it would not betray his weakness.

Zim stepped back so as not to be staring up at the man and slanted his eyes.

"Soul—"

Tak backhanded Zim so hard across the face that it sent him rocking back a few steps. He put a hand to his cheek momentarily, then raised the gun again.

"How dare you!"

"Just shut the hell up Zim," she snapped. "Look at him. He's not a Soul. He's as human as any other."

Dib shifted his eyes down, wishing he could hide the shine. Tak reached up and grabbed his chin, pushing his head back up.

"It's not there, Dib," she said softly. He met her eye a moment and frowned in disbelief. She nodded towards a reflective surface and Dib looked, eyes widening. He touched his cheek just below one eye and stared, shocked.

"What happened?" he asked breathlessly. Not that it mattered. He was human again.

"We don't know yet," she replied. "They ran some tests and the silver—"

Zim, irritated by being ignored, swung the gun to aim at Dib's chest as a demand of attention. Both looked at him.

"Let it go Zim," Tak reached up to move the gun away, but Zim stepped back and placed another hand on it.

"It's a trick. I'm not going to be fooled as you and Jhon were!"

Tak frowned and stepped in front of Dib again.

"He is human now. He defeated the Soul. Why can't you accept that?"

Zim shook his head and wrapped a finger over the trigger.

"I'm not going to be fooled.." he repeated. A single gunshot echoed down the hall, startling the doctors and scientists whom were hiding from the situation. Everyone's eyes went to the door way as Zek holstered his weapon again silently and moved on.

Zim blinked slowly and dropped his gun. He fell to his knees as he stumbled forward and then collapsed onto his side. Kai moved in and took the weapon from him, pocketing it and moving against the wall again with a solemn and silent expression.

"Zim?" Dib was the first to move to him, dropping to his knees as he had not strength to get down otherwise. He touched the alien's arm and helped him onto his back gently.

Zim shook his head and coughed, blood misting his lips as he did so. Dib frowned and glanced up as Tak laid a hand on his shoulder. He looked back down at the Invader and sighed softly.

"What can I do?" he asked Zim quietly. Zim blinked harshly and coughed again. Crimson met amber for the briefest moment in time. The one that felt forever. The Irken's lips twitched in a smile and he whispered, "I believe."

Dib nodded once, wordless.

Zim struggled with a cough, his cheeks puffing out as he held it in. He choked and gasped, then, "What.. What will I do now?"

Dib stared down at him and patted the alien's arm, watching as the life left him, crimson eyes falling flat magenta as the light was evaporated from their cores.

He rose, ignoring the ill feeling that rose up in him, and turned to Tak. She looked up at him, tears in her eyes. Dib wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close against him, dipping his head to rest his cheek against the top of her head. She clutched his shirt and buried her face against his chest, letting the tears go, just for awhile. The man glanced up at a sound and met with Kai's gaze. They nodded in a mutual goodbye and Kai left them be, going to check on the doctors and possibly find Zek.

Dib replaced his cheek against Tak's quivering form and closed his eyes, breathing in her exotic scent and finding comfort in this. After all they had been through, they were here. Zim wasn't. Jhon wasn't. But they were, and he could handle that.

He could handle that.


	15. Without My Mount

Tak and Dib returned to the house unheeded. Kai had gone before them, so everyone knew the happenings by the time they arrived. Some looked away, others stared at Dib in wonder while others yet stepped up to offer silent condolences in the forms of handshakes and shoulder pats. The two acknowledged all politely and quickly retired to the medical room, which still smelled of blood and death.

Dib continued to be ill for the next several days, at times burning under his own skin while racked with violent shivers and other times begging for warmth while panting. He grew frail as food almost always made him ill enough to lose it. Tak never left his side and other Irkens brought them food, catering to their every need. A respect had broken out in the group of humans and Irkens, something rare for such a situation. Dib became the face of hope. The one who survived, the one who killed it and took control of his body. All the humans visited him and marveled at Tak's recount of how it all happened, minus the tale of Zim's departure. Nobody needed to hear that story more than once.

A week went by and Dib finally began to hold solid food down. His skin still peeled and broke out in boils, but it was seeming more and more like a bad sunburn and less like the horror it really was. He suffered crippling headaches, which he would for the rest of his time to live, and his face bore darkened marks where the cells had been damaged beyond natural repair.

But he was alive, and that was good enough for him.

After ten days he was walking again, and he threw himself readily into work; helping in the kitchen with dishes and food prep at first, then taking guard shifts and patrol duties around the boarders and roof. Tak held onto the more important leadership roles, as Dib did not feel comfortable taking on such a task, but she tried to share ideas with him as much as possible.

Zek was never found. The area was thoroughly searched but he never turned up. It is assumed he either committed suicide, or was captured by the Souls and used for stars-know what. There had been some debate as to whether to move locations, but the end finally decided they would all stay on grounds that an Irken mind doesn't retain memories the same as a human, therefore, if he were implanted with a Soul, it is likely they would never figure out his system. Aside from that, no one wanted to admit, they weren't ready to move. The houses were comfortable, and they provided good protection and comfort regarding the situation.

For three weeks life went on undisturbed. They lived in the houses like sanctuary. But that wasn't their purpose, to merely live.

Tak decided the night for action. Together with Kai and Dib, she plotted out the route they would take to a hospital across town, the very one Dib had been found in. There was another debate as to who would go, and Dib was the first to be excluded. He fought the point with the fact that he had escaped the Soul's capture before, and it wasn't likely they would be able to implant him again, not as easily anyways.

It was a long discussion, but finally Dib won out, pushing his point repeatedly and adding in the fact that the humans would need Irken protection; they couldn't afford to lose a single Irken soldier. So it was decided, Tak, Kai, Dib, Skeen, and two other Irken guards would go.

""""""""

The night came and they set out, wasting no time as they crossed the small field behind the house to the treeline. It would be a half-hour's journey as the raven flies, probably longer considering that they had to be stealthy. They went armed, each donning an Irken gun and a knife in case they were compromised. Tak lead, Dib beside her, and Skeen, being of sharpest eye, flanked them all. They made good time, running into no complications along the way.

Crouched in some shrubbery near the back entrance to the hospital, Dib and Kai watched the door while Tak and the others waited just around the corner, listening for the signal. When a Soul stepped out bearing trash bags, the two rushed him and Kai slit his throat. They hid the body, along with the bags, in the dumpster and Dib donned his doctor's uniform. Kai clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

At that, Tak lead her group around the corner and they snuck into the entrance, minus one guard whom remained outside to keep watch for backup or sneak-attacks.

Dib tried not to be too uncomfortable in the clothing slightly too small for him. They moved into the second level, leaving another guard on the first level to keep watch. Being as late at night as it were, not many Souls were around.

The lessened group of Tak, Dib, Kai, and Skeen took pause at the top of the stairs. Dib pushed open the door, keeping his head tilted so it would appear the light were simply not reflected correctly to show the silver he now wished was still there. Tak reached up and touched his arm just as he stepped into the hall. He glanced over his shoulder and smiled at her where she crouched, hidden just behind the doorframe. Feeling confident again, he started down the hall full-knowing he may very well never see Tak again.

The patient rooms lined the second-half of the hall, turning both right and left into more halls bearing more rooms. Dib paused outside the first he came to, glancing in. The only occupants, he knew, would either be human or freshly-turned Souls. The occupant of that particular room was human, asleep and tied to the bed. They looked a little worse for the wear, and Dib couldn't help but wonder what had happened to them.

0pening the door quietly, he stepped into the room and crouched beside the bed, quickly undoing the first restrains around the woman's arm. She shifted and mumbled, waking slowly and turning wide eyes on Dib.

He quickly put a finger to his lips, taking Jhon's penlight from his pocket and flicking it across his eyes. She nodded, biting her lip, and he untied her completely. Rising, he helped her from the bed and they crept into the hall. Dib pointed to the door at the end of the hall where the Irkens waited. The woman nodded in silent understanding and ran quietly in her bare feet.

Dib moved to the next occupied room, freeing its inhabitant and sending them down the hall. He continued to do this for the next three occupied rooms, successfully freeing the humans he found.

Turning the corner found him face-to-face with three Soul's—Healers, as they called themselves. Quickly tipping his face down, he smiled at them.

"Good evening, how are you?" he asked.

"Very well, and how about yourself?" one of the responded, the other two smiling and nodding to agree with the statement.

"Well. It is a lovely evening."

"It is indeed."

"Have a wonderful night, doctors," he said, moving to step around them. They watched him as he strolled down the hall; he could feel their piercing eyes on his back. A thought nearly stumbled him in his tracks as he reflected back on what he had said, but by then it was too late. It didn't surprise him as the needle was driven into his back, through his clothes. He turned quickly, shouting the safeword for the Irkens to know to get the hell out.

The Healers were on him, grabbing his arms and calling out for help. They pulled Dib to his knees just as he was feeling the effects of whatever human drug they had injected him with. He didn't bother to think too long on how the Souls were adapting their ways.. first using humans to do their fighting, now human drugs to subdue.

"Dib!" his name shouted from the end of the hall in a voice that brought both horror and joy to his mind. His head snapped up and he screamed at Tak. She stopped in her tracks, staring at him as the Souls holding him down continued to call for help.

"Get out!" Dib shouted. "Take the humans and get out!"

She shook her head, tears welling from her eyes, but she was already backing away. Dib shouted at her once more and she turned, darting past the rushing Soul guards and Healers and disappearing around the corner.

Dib watched her go, then began to thrash against the Healers, shaking one off and striking the other down. He lurched to his feet, but it was no use against the sedative in his system. Too late he thought of the weapons he carried. He stumbled into a guard as they drew closer, forcing his weight on them as his knees gave out and he started to go down.

The last he knew was the Healers crowding around as the guard lowered him to the floor gently, several of them exclaiming over how they had seen him before, how he was the escaped one. How he was no longer a Soul.


	16. My Horse, My Hound

"We're not leaving him!" Tak exclaimed to the humans and Irkens crowded around her party. The humans helped their new-come fellows to find clothes from the stockroom and get a good meal. Kai had just finished explaining what happened, and it was a silent but sure vote on the next call of action; moving.

"He is one of us! A human, just like you!" Tak growled as the humans began turning away with downcast eyes. She locked her eyes on the face of a man Dib had previously saved the life of.

"He helped you.. You would have died without his knowledge!"

The man looked down, frowning. Tak shook her head in disbelief as the group slowly disbanded, everyone wandering back to their duties. She looked up at Kai. He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.

"I need to help organize, Invader Tak," he said quietly. She nodded, antennae falling flat against her head. Turning to the window, she pushed the curtain aside slightly and peeked out at the dawning world. She knew what she had to do. If no one else would have faith, she would have for all of them.

"Invader Tak?"

She glanced over her shoulder at Skeen. He frowned, looking down at his small hands and rubbing them together in thought.

"What?"

"I just wanted you to know that I think.. I believed all along."

She stared at him forever's moment, then nodded silently. He grimaced up at her and left to help the others pack.

Tak sighed softly and leaned against the wall, covering her eyes a moment and taking solstice in the dark of her palm. Images of the man flashed in her mind and she suddenly set her jaw and marched upstairs to the medical room. There she shut and locked the door, then climbed out the window, dropping to the ground on her mechanical legs.

She started for the hospital.

"""""""""

It was full-day when she arrived. It had taken her well over an hour to reach the place because the Souls were all out, enjoying the chilly but comfortable weather. There had been no more snow since the one night she had witnessed its beauty with Dib. The environment didn't support snow well, and it melted as soon as touching the Earth. Tak couldn't help but think what a shame that was, because snow is beautiful.

Glancing back up at the building from where she crouched in the brush, she frowned deeply. The door was guarded by two Souls. Not that they were a problem, but they would surely raise an alarm before she could do away with them both. Forming a plan, she picked up a stone and threw it into the trash bin, where the dead body may or may not have been yet found. She heard one of the Souls exclaim something, and watched as they stepped into sight, moving towards the trash bin. Extending her mechanical legs silently, she crept along the side of the building behind them.

"0h no!" one of the Souls gasped, seeing the body wedged beneath the trash bags. He turned, hand over his mouth and another wrapped around his abdomen. His eyes widened in his last moment and Tak dispatched of them both, piercing their skulls with the metal. She threw them into the bin and closed the lid quietly, then sidled up to the building, dripping silvery-red blood along the way.

The door opened on silent hinges. She pulled it to behind her, not closing it all the way but enough to seem closed. Moving down the hall, she steeled herself and looked down the hall Dib had been captured in. It was blessedly empty, as was the one opposite it. Tak quickly began checking each of the rooms, ignoring the humans she saw in some of them. She was here for only one thing.

Two of the halls yielded nothing but strangers and she started to panic, realizing that Dib may be deeper in the building than just these rooms. She hurriedly checked the rooms of the last hall and a thought struck her with blinding force.

The Souls wouldn't leave all these rooms empty with only two guards at the door, not after the previous night's raid. Turning quickly, she narrowed her eyes at the array of Souls standing at the end of the hall facing her. The door behind lead to the stairs, and she was flanked by empty rooms. Surely there was an ambush waiting in the stairwell, but that was the chance she had to take.

With a hiss at the advancing Souls, she turned, slamming the door open and extending the mechanical legs again to leap over the waiting bodies there. They turned, looking at her in surprise, and she skittered up the stairs faster than they could keep up.

Reaching the second floor, she opened the door, scaring the Souls whom were going about their duties there. They all began to run, some ducking into rooms while others hid behind desks and others yet darted down halls towards exits. She hurriedly checked the rooms, throwing open doors and frightening the human occupants in turn.

"Where is he?" she snarled under her breath as the Souls rushed up the stairs and into the hall. She ran, turning the corner and slamming into a Soul. She threw him against the wall and continued on, checking rooms as she went. She could hear the guards behind her, but no time to think about that.

There were stairs at the end of the hall, leading to the third level up. As much as she didn't want to go up there, she had no other choice.

Tak threw open the door and ran into someone else. She grabbed them by the arms and started to throw them out of her way, but she recognized the shape of the being and looked up. Silvery eyes stared back down at her from a beautiful and very familiar face.

"Dib!" she breathed, ignoring the silver and pulling him into a hug. He began to cry out for help, struggling against her as she held him tightly.

"Come on!" she said, blind to the obvious fact because, when you love someone, there are just things you don't want to understand. She pulled him along behind her, though he struggled and screamed. She dragged him down the stairs and out the emergency door. He had no choice but to stumble along with her, still being somewhat weak from his transfusion and previous injuries.

When they stumbled out into the sunlight, she was shocked to see five Irken guards, slaying Soul guards and healers. She stared at them a moment, then tugged Dib around the small fray. Kai ran up, looking first at her, then at Dib. His expression fell and he lifted his mechanical legs.

"Tak.."

"Let's go!" she said, pulling Dib forward again.

"Tak."

She ignored him, dragging Dib along. Kai grabbed her shoulder and gripped it tight. She looked up at him with innocent and dull eyes and he swallowed.

"Tak… What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, voice quavering.

"Look at Dib."

She kept her eyes locked on Kai's for a long time, then finally turned her head and looked at Dib. Her Dib.

He shook with terror, tears pouring from his wide and very silver eyes. She stared at him, feeling Irken tears stinging behind her gaze but fighting them back.

"Let him go," Kai said quietly.

"No!" she snapped back, anger taking the place of grief. "He fought it once, he can do it again! He will kill it!"  
>"You can't know that for sure.."<p>

"But what is my life if I don't try?" she choked, tears spilling down her cheeks as the reality hit her. She still held out her hope though, and hope can be strong.

Kai had no answer. He nodded and looked at Dib.

"Follow us or we'll kill you," he growled. The Soul turned brimming eyes on him and nodded, sweating he was so scared. Tak didn't like the threat, but it worked and Dib followed her easily, though she still clutched his wrist.

The journey back to the houses seemed far longer than she remembered. She tried not to think, just move. The other Irkens soon joined them, falling in behind and looking at Dib in silent skepticism.

0ne started to speak, but was easily silenced by a look from Kai. It was a long journey for everyone.


	17. All Eager and Quick

****AUTH0R'S N0TE****

**Thank you my fans whom have stuck with me throughout this process and my new readers. I hope you have enjoyed what you have read thus far. It has been a long way up to this point, and I can now feel comfortable saying that this story is drawing to an end.**

**But it is not done yet.**

**I appreciate your patience with me.**

Skeen and a few others were waiting for them at the house. Everyone had been packed and moved into an abandoned vet clinic several blocks away, even deeper into the area the Souls had yet to cultivate.

Tak and Dib-Soul followed them to the new place, and Tak was surprised at how quickly they had settled in.

"Thank you," she said to Kai while waiting for someone to find a room for her and the Soul. "I didn't think anyone would support me."

"We were right not to in the first place," Kai said with a suspicious glance at the Soul. He sighed. "But if you think you can bring him back.."

"Nobody can do that but Dib himself," she said, looking up at the shaking Soul and swallowing hard, fighting emotion again. She had to be strong. Strong because Dib had to be too.

"Invader Tak." She looked away as a human male called her.

"Yes?"

"We have a room ready for you two."

"Good. Come along, Dib," she tugged the Soul's hand and he followed her, eyes taking in everything.

The human led them to a small room; an empty exam office.

"We'll get some bedding to you directly. Anything else I can do for you, Invader?" the human asked. Tak recognized him as the man whom Dib had helped and she had earlier addressed, and figured he must be feeling guilty.

"No, that's all for now, thank you."

He nodded and left, returning to the basement to find the supplies. Tak closed the door and released the Soul, turning to look up at him. He glanced back but quickly averted his eyes, terrified of her.

"Make yourself comfortable," she said, meaning to be harsh but her voice softened. He stepped back and took a seat in the corner, looking down at his hands. Tak looked him over, then stepped from the room, closing the door behind her. She moved into the main area and looked about at humans settling into large dog pens and exam rooms with blankets and pet beds, and some even claimed placed in washtubs and smaller cages set into the walls.

"Invader!" She turned again and smiled at Skeen.

"How are things going?" she asked.

"Well, and how is the Soul? Any sign of change?"

"No. But he just got here," she added quickly. Skeen nodded slowly, then looked up as the human stepped up to Tak with two blankets and pillows.

"Thank you," she said, reaching for them. Skeen beat her to it and, after giving him a look, she led him to her room.

The Soul was still huddled in the corner, arms wrapped around his knees now. He looked up with wide eyes and froze. Skeen looked away, setting the bedding on the small wall-set counter and turning to Tak.

"Let me know if there's anything you need," he said, then left, unable to bear being in the same room as the Soul. Tak closed and locked the door. She reached up and ran a finger over one of her antennae, feeling something irritating it. When she pulled her hand away, she frowned at a black hair clinging to her glove. She shook it away and tossed one of the pillows to the Soul. It hit him and he looked wide-eyed at it.

"Put it where you want to sleep," she instructed. He quickly set it in the corner beside him and looked up at her for any more instructions. Tak sighed softly and stepped over, crouching before him and handing him the blanket. He took it very slowly, warily, and looked down at it as if it were something new and grand.

"Where's my Dib?" Tak whispered. The Soul glanced back up at her, frowning deeply. He said nothing.

She looked into his silvery eyes, seeking out the slightest trace of amber. She stood quickly when she found none and turned back to the door.

"Stay here, I'm going to go help with things." She talked to him as if he were Dib. It wasn't that bad, she had to reason. Dib was in there.. somewhere. So what if she addressed him instead of the Soul?

Tak stepped from the room and began wandering the building, finding all the places she needed to, such as the kitchen and medical room. She wasted time, essentially, doing things she deemed in her mind as important.

She was about to return to the room when a flurry of shouts and action sounded from somewhere down the hall. Tak quickly rushed to the area where she was well-met with a scene she had been dreading in the back of her mind.

0ne of the humans, a male whom had been rescued from one of the hospitals moments before transplantation, had the Soul by the throat pinned against the ground and a wall. The Soul writhed in his hands, weeping with fear and begging for mercy in a small, cracked voice.

"Let him go!" Tak ordered, shoving others watching aside and grabbing the man by the back of the neck. He released the Soul and turned on Tak angrily.

"Why was it wandering around? You should keep a better eye on that thing!"

Tak shoved the larger male against the wall with a fury that frightened him, though he remained just as angry to all appearances.

"If you ever touch him again I'll have your fucking head!" she snarled back and then let him go to crouch beside the Soul. He flinched when she laid a hand on his shoulder and she sighed.

The man grumbled something about Zim as he walked away and Tak shot him a glare.

"What happened?" she asked a stander-by.

"The Soul came out of the room and walked up behind him, trying to ask about something. Johan snapped and threw him on the floor." The woman didn't sound like she blamed him, and the few gathered people began to disperse. No fight here.

Tak looked back down at the Soul, stroking his shoulder gently now.

"Come, back to the room," she ordered, taking his hand and rising. He got up slowly and, hand still in her's, followed her back to the room.

Tak closed the door when they got there and turned to him.

"What did you want to ask about?"

The Soul looked down shyly, face reddening. He seemed a little less terrified, but more ruffled now.

"I.."

"Yes?" she prompted encouragingly.

"I'm.. I'm hungry," he whispered and stepped back as if she would strike him down for it.

"Alright.. Stay here and I'll get you some food." She patted his arm and smiled, then quit to the kitchen.

"Invader Tak! What brings you here?" A rosy-cheeked woman greeted Tak when she entered the makeshift kitchen.

"Hi Sandy. Dib is hungry, what's for food?" Tak asked. She had always liked Sandy well because she didn't question much and was always so pleasant to be around.

"0h, let's see.." She began opening boxes of food and looking through them. "Would he like some Poptarts? 0r something a little more substantial?"

"I don't think it should get anything," a voice from the corner of the room spoke up. Both females turned to look at the man nursing a bottle of dirty rain water as if it were a real drink.

"Why would you say a thing like that Donald?" Sandy asked light-heartedly.

"Because it's a fuckin' Soul, that's why. How come it should get our hard-earned food when it's one of the things we're fighting against?"

"0h hush now.. It's not like that and you know it. Dib is a nice young man."

"That thing isn't Dib. It's a Soul!"

Tak growled now, eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You listen here, human," she snapped, but was beat to it.

"That Soul is a guest here," another voice came from behind her and she had to bite back a smile at Skeen's support. "And you'll treat him as such until a further decision is made."

Donald glared at the both of them and rose.

"Fine, whatever. Feed it our food, waste your time. I'll kill it if it comes near me though." He walked from the room and Sandy turned a beaming smile on Tak again.

"Don't let him bother you dearie, here.." She passed her two packets of Poptarts. "In case he gets hungry later, too. I wouldn't bring him to dinner, not yet, if I were you."

Tak nodded gratefully and took the snacks upstairs to the Soul. Sitting on his pillow in the corner, he jumped a little when she entered the room.

"Here," she handed him one of the packets. He opened it and began eating. The tarts were gone before long, and Tak relinquished the second pack when he began eyeing them hungrily.

"They must not have fed you there," she commented as he shook the crumbs into his mouth. "Well, I'm afraid to say you won't get much more here. That was supposed to last you all day."

He frowned, looking down at the packets in guilt.

"Don't worry about it," she said, taking pity in the sad expression on the face she loved so much. "I'll slip you something around dinner time. People don't like you around here right now, you know."

His head lowered further and she frowned as tears dripped to his lap.

"Why are you crying?"

"I don't want to be hated for what I am.." he replied quietly. She stepped over and crouched beside him, touching his shoulder.

"It cannot be helped. You took something away from me, away from all of us." Bitterness laced her voice, and she was helpless to keep it out.

He lifted his head, silvery eyes rimmed in liquid.

"I didn't mean to.. I didn't pick who to be. I just.."

She sighed, her hand sliding away from him.

"I know. But.. it cannot be helped. It's not you personally.. It's what you are. What your species has done."

He looked down again, pained by the understanding of this. Tak rose and left him once more, hoping he would just stay in the room this time and not cause any trouble. The last thing she needed was to go off on one of the humans here worse than she already had. She was struggling to keep her image with the humans, and her reputation was slipping fast.

"Welcome back Invader," a fellow guard greeted her with a wane smile.

"Thank you. Where is Invader Kai?"

"Front lobby, on watch."

"Thank you."

Tak made her way through the building, which still held a faint smell of sick and dying animals, chemicals, and urine. Her antennae twitched at the scents.

"Kai, do you have a moment?" she asked when she got there, eyeing the two human guards.

"Indeed. Let's go outside." He pushed open the glass door and stepped out, and she followed. They stepped around a corner and she let her shoulders sag.

"Kai—"

"Give it time," he interrupted, his words strict but his eyes kindly and understanding.

"But what if they try to hurt him?"

"They are tense, and they have every right to be. You've brought the enemy right into their place of sanctuary and you are asking them to live with him. Expect resistance."

Tak sighed and nodded, reaching up to rub the back of her head.

"I know.. You're right. But.. I worry," her voice dropped to a whisper. "What if.. What if he doesn't come back?" She turned pale eyes on him and he looked away.

"I don't know what to tell you. But you have hope, and that's all you really can have at this point. Believe in Dib's abilities. He did it once.."

"Yes.. Thank you Kai."

He nodded and they returned inside.

Tak made her way to the room, having to use one of the lanterns they had found in one of the near-by houses as it was growing dark quickly. The Soul was asleep, curled in the corner with just his pillow. She unfolded one of the blankets and draped it over him gently, then laid herself on the counter with her pillow and blanket.

Rest did not come for her, and so she forced her PAK into a sleep-mode until the morning, needing to get away from reality for just awhile.

'_Come back to me, Dib,_' she thought before sliding into the restful state. _'Please hurry and come back to me..'_


	18. Where Can I Go

The next five days were mostly uneventful in the building. Tensions had cooled the second day because Tak had insisted the Soul stay hidden, but by day three she grew impatient of the scorn and started having him walk with her on guard patrols and to take inventory.

Then, day six, something different occurred. Small groups of Irken and human guards often went out on search-and-rescue missions, but this activity had been ceased when they moved into the new building, just in case they had been tracked.

Now, with fears of discovery dimmed, a group had been sent out. They had brought back two young humans, but also, by mistake, another Soul.

Debate as to what to do with it did not go well.

"How could you make such a mistake?" one of the human guards demanded of another, though both had been in the same retrieval group.

"You didn't notice either!" Well stated.

Tempers flared to the point of violence and a bloodied nose and finally Kai and Tak stepped in.

"Stop, just stop it!" Tak snapped, getting in the face of one of the men. She wished she didn't have to get involved.

The man growled at her but backed off, knowing better than to challenge one of the Irken guards.

"Now look," she sighed, exasperated with the situation on top of everything else going on. "It's here, so what are we going to do about it?"

"Kill it!" one of the men called from across the room, not wanting to be too near to the creature.

"Well, wait," another man, the one whom had initially captured the Soul, spoke up. "Tak gets to keep a pet Soul, why not I?"

"Dib is not a pet," Tak retorted with a glare. She sensed what was coming next.

"He's right, if one Soul is here why not just let them all in?"

"I say we kill them both!"

"A step forward in the war, right here in our own home!"

More humans began to gather around, adding input and shouting out agreements. Tak felt Kai step up behind her and glanced at him. He surveyed the scene with a grim face, obviously just as displeased as her.

Tak drew herself up and exploded.

"Shut the hell up!" How a curse felt good on the tongue, even if it were an Earth one.

The humans hushed and looked at her small form in surprise. She stood as tall as possible, still not cresting any of the male humans' shoulders.

"There will be no killing of anything, not while I'm in charge. You," she looked pointedly at the man who had laid claim over the Soul.

"You brought it here. Accident or not, you're responsible for it."

The man nodded slowly, glancing at the Soul in worry.

"As for the rest of you," she turned her attention. "Nobody touches it unless he says so, got it?"

They nodded reluctantly and began to disperse, grumbling and not taking an eye off the new Soul.

Tak sighed and the man came up to her slowly.

"Invader.. What should I do with it?"

She glanced at the trembling Soul.

"Take it to your room, it's yours. Just be sure it doesn't escape, or else the fate of the entire house will be on you." She fixed him in a serious glare and he nodded, head lowered.

Tak watched as he took the small female body by the hand, leading her away from the area and towards the back, undoubtedly to the human's room. She wondered if she had made a mistake.

"Good handling on that," Kai said, glancing down at her.

She turned and they started walking.

"I just didn't want any serious bloodshed, not in here. We can't have the humans at odds."

"Right." He gave her shoulder a pat and turned down a hall to resume his guard position at the front desk. Tak continued on to her room and sighed, posture slumping forwards when she closed the door.

The Soul looked up at her from his corner.

"Invader Tak?" he said meekly.

"Yes?"

"My body hungers."

'_Dib's body, you mean_,' she thought, bitter yet slightly sympathetic towards the Soul.

"We eat in a few hours."

He nodded and looked back down to the book she had found for him. He'd already read three, and this one she'd just found two days ago he was nearly finished with.

"Why do you enjoy reading so much?" she asked, hopping up to sit on the counter.

"I like the stories the humans make up," he replied, turning a page. "And this body seems to like it as well."

She nodded slowly, remembering Dib mention something about reading. But that was before all this mess had happened, when Irkens were the biggest threat to the human race.

Tak watched the Soul read, his movements so fluid now compared to when she had first brought him here. He had well-adapted to Dib's body.

She looked deep into his silver eyes scanning the pages quickly. She saw no hint of amber in them, and wondered exactly what Dib was doing in there. Surely he is still there, plotting and trying to find a way to reclaim his body. He must be fighting even now, as she stares at the Soul. And she can do nothing to help but offer support and comfort.

The Soul turned another page, the soft wisp of it the only sound in the room. It made Tak's antennae twitch and she slid off the counter slowly, stepping over to him. She crouched before him and cupped a hand under his chin, forcing him to look up at her.

His expression suddenly turned worried and he shifted nervously as she stared searchingly into his eyes.

"Where is my Dib?"

He swallowed and tried to look away but she held him firm.

"Why can't you let him go?"

She released the Soul, seeing his discomfort and taking careless pity. She rose and left the room, unable to be around him anymore.

The Soul stared after her sorrowfully and then returned to his reading, having to tell himself that it wasn't his fault.

Tak passed Kai in the hall, and he seemed to sense her pain.

"Give it time," he said gently.

"How much time?" she snapped, stopping to glare up at him. He looked down.

"I don't know.. But it happened once before, it can happen again. Don't give up hope. If you love him."

She nodded slowly, eyes distant as she thought about the words. If she loved him. She did love him.. but to what extent? When would it be okay to let go if she had to?

She shook her head and murmured 'thank you' before starting her rounds of the outside. It would be a long shift. Just walking and watching.. and thinking.

She passed the human whom had brought the Soul in. They were sitting on the steps outside, talking. The female was scooted far from him, but talking comfortably. Her eyes darted up to Tak when she stepped out and she fell silent.

The man smiled and rose to greet Tak.

"Invader," he dipped his head politely and then gestured at the Soul. "This is Soft Petals. I call her Petals."

Tak smiled diplomatically. "Greetings to you, Soft Petals."

The Soul grew red in the cheeks and ducked her head, fearful and shy of the Irkens. The man chuckled and sat again, leaning his back against the railing.

"She's been telling me about the worlds she's lived in."

"Have you lived in many?" Tak asked, curious.

"Three," she whispered.

"That's a lot for them," the man added in. "And she hasn't found one she likes yet."

"Keep looking." Tak continued down the stairs and around the corner, realizing her comment may have been offensive but not caring.

She circled the building slowly and turned to do it again in the opposite direction, not wanting to see the Soul. She tried to keep her mind on the work but found herself reflecting on everything she had been through with Dib.

A stray dog startled her, and she drew her weapon swiftly and shot it. Kai and a few others ran at the sound and she quickly lowered her weapon.

"What happened?" Kai asked, looking at the dying dog.

"I thought.. it just.. It just startled me, that's all," she said quickly, holstering her weapon and crossing her arms. Kai touched her shoulder.

"I think you should go back inside and rest. Take a break from your duties."

"No, there's no time or resources for that. I'm fine," she insisted.  
>"As second in command, I demand you leave off your duties for the day."<p>

She made a face, knowing she could easily argue this because she was first in command. But she didn't, understanding the guard's point and taking it.

"Alright.."

She turned and started walking away. She heard the second shot as someone ended the animal's pain and it hurried her back inside.

"Invader Tak!" Skeen ran up to her. "He's missing!"

"Who?" she stopped and stared at the slightly-taller Irken.

"The... Your Soul."

"What?" She ran to their room, Skeen in tow. The door was open, the Soul gone.

"Start searching the building!" she snapped at Skeen and they went separate ways, Tak around the upstairs and Skeen to the basement.

"Kai!" Tak called, seeing him step back inside from the front door. He looked up at her, antennae perked.

"Dib is missing!"

His antennae fell and he turned to go back outside to look. Tak met up with Skeen again in the main room.

"He's not in the basement."

"Kai's checking outside."

She put her hands on her head and bit her lip, a human habit she'd picked up from Dib.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he's around," Skeen said, though the worry bled through his voice. "I'll get the humans to help look."

"No!" she snapped, startling him. "Don't tell anyone else, not yet."

Skeen understood and nodded. They split to search the building again. Tak began checking rooms, disturbing resting humans and offering no apology or explanation to their irritated and surprised expressions.

She found him in one of the rooms.

"Fuck, get off!" she screamed, launching herself at one of the human males crowded in the room around the Soul. He jumped back, releasing Dib's throat and pressing against the wall.

"I thought you said she was distracted!"

"She was outside!" another man said, inching towards the door.

Tak extended her PAK legs and slammed both of them against the wall hard enough to drive them to their knees, winded. She shoved two other humans out of the way and crouched beside the Soul.

He choked and curled in the corner, clutching at his throat and gasping.

"What did you do?" Tak snarled, turning on the humans. Nobody answered until she struck one over the head, rendering him unconscious.

"It's a Soul.. it's the enemy," one man started.

"It's Dib!" she roared, rising and shaking with fury. "He saved all of your lives at some point or another! And this is how you thank him?"

"That's not Dib," another human spoke up quietly. "That's just a Soul."

Tak stared at him, searching for words before exploding, "Get out!"

The humans gladly scrambled from the room and returned to their own, except for the one who's room they had been in. He scrambled to someone else's room.

Tak brushed Dib's hair from his face and talked to him gently, encouragingly. He ignored her, too focused on his own pain and regaining his breath.

"Come, let's go back to our room," Tak said, taking his hand and rising in an attempt to bring him up. He looked at her, fearful and wary, and got up. His throat was already starting to show the dark bruises it would bear for quite some time.

Bruises that would outlive him.

He followed her back to their room silently and she waited until he was settled down in his bed until she went to inform the others that he had been found.

She didn't mention what had happened, and they didn't need to ask.


	19. Where Will I Go

Weeks bleed so well into one another, like colors mixing until there is nothing but a muddy, ugly shade.

The veterinary hospital proved a good hiding place, well away from the prying eyes and hungry grasps of the Souls.

They brought back a few more humans, mostly from the streets when they ventured out at night and encountered those foraging. But there were no more hospital raids as it was decided too risky.

Tak spent less and less time with Dib-Soul, though he was with her whenever she allowed him. He loved her, and she knew it. But it was not Dib's love.

Worries were high because they had not a healer, but for mostly everyone stayed relatively unharmed and healthy, if one can call the meager conditions healthy. There were, of course, the cuts and bruises and pains of leading such a life, but nothing the abandoned vet supplies couldn't fix.

Tak ran to the hall at the cries for help from one of the Invaders, the Soul close in tow.

"What's happened?" she asked quickly, eyes widened at the sight of the human Kai and another Irken were carrying in. Half of the man's face was torn off, one eye hanging from its socket by a sickening grey and pink thread, resting on the exposed white bone of his cheek. Dib-Soul saw and stopped short, eyes wide in shock.

"He fell on a fan blade," Kai said as they gently laid him down. The man moaned, reaching a hand to his face. Tak snatched it down as she knelt beside him.

"What?"

"There's a dog food factory not far from here," Kai explained while the other Irken went for help. "Someone's taken the grate off one of the big fans and you can get inside by stepping between the blades. It's not going since there's no power."

"And he fell?" She rose and stepped aside as three humans came with bandaging and supplies.

Kai nodded. "Tripped.. Sheared his face right off."

She looked down at the flap of skin hanging by the man's ear, just by the hairline. Half of his lips were gone, broken and bleeding teeth turning dark in his gums as they died too quickly. The man continued to moan faintly as the humans tried to stop the bleeding.

Tak watched silently, stepping back to stand by Dib-Soul. He shifted closer to her, eyes welling in tears, lips trembling.

The man was carried away to his own room to rest when they had patched him up as best they could for the moment, though the pink started showing through the bandages quickly. Tak looked at Kai.

"What was gained?"

He shook his head and walked away to rest himself.

Tak watched as the humans took their own away to be bandaged. She wondered if the man would live with such injuries. Likely not. He wouldn't want to, she thought.

She glanced up at the Soul, who was staring in horror at the blood. She patted his arm and he turned away from the sight, looking down at her.

"Let's go back to the room," she suggested and he nodded. Tak closed the door when they were inside and leaned against it.

"Soul?"

He sat in his corner and looked up at her.

"What is your name?"

"Withering Stem."

She tilted her antennae.

"Why are you called that?"

He sighed and looked down at his hands, flexing the fingers in an experimental way.

"I'm not a very good Soul. I killed my flower host."

She frowned deeply. Killed. She said nothing and the Soul looked up quickly in realization.

"But.. I'm better now. I won't.."

"Yeah." She looked down. "Tell me one thing."

"Anything."

"Can you feel him? Hear him?"

Stem looked away, eyes downcast.

"No."

Tak nodded once and turned, opening the door and stepping out. Stem leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes with a sigh. "She hates me," he whispered. "Be quiet Dib. She hates me.."

Dib said no more to the Soul, watching everything through his Soul-controlled eyes. He felt his own heart squeeze in pain and knew it wasn't because of him. The Soul loved her. Motherfucker.

Tak paced down the hall slowly, deep in thought. She knew that already, didn't she? Dib is gone and he's not coming back.

She bumped into a human and mumbled an apology, stepping around. The human turned to look at her.

"Invader Tak?"

She paused.

"That Soul.. Why do you keep him?"

She was silent for a long while. "I don't know."

"It's not because you think Dib will come back? That he can defeat the Soul?"

"No."

The human looked down at a wallet-sized picture in his hand and Tak glanced back at him.

"She's a Soul. I saw her yesterday on a raid."

"I'm sorry." Tak kept walking, leaving the human to grieve alone. She had her own problems.

She climbed to the roof, even though it was daytime, and sat alone, watching the surroundings of their barren little piece of Earth. She wondered how long before the Souls reached this far. Before they were found. They couldn't keep running forever, and most of the Irkens were well convinced that help was not coming. They called out every night but no one replied. She wondered if Irk gave up on them. Like she had.

Tak brushed her antennae back slowly and looked down at her gloves, dirty and worn down to threads. She pulled them off and tossed them aside, wiggling her fingers in the fresh afternoon air. So many smells.. city smog, animals, plants.. Earth is beautiful and ugly, scarred and sacred. And the Souls, when rid completely of the humans, would improve it. She wondered that they had lost this war before it even began. Irkens relied on force and violence, but the Souls relied on peace. They never gave up, their will never died. And who's to say it's a bad thing? Irk didn't really care for this filthy planet anyways.. But nobody takes from the mighty Irkens, even if what's being taken is unwanted.

She rose and jumped down, returning to the dark of the indoors. It's so stuffy and smelly inside, between the animals, humans, chemicals.. Nasty. 0utside is so much cleaner, even for the smog.

The blood had been cleaned up, the chemical scent stronger there. She passed it quickly and found herself moving towards her room. But she didn't want to see the Soul, so she veered off towards the kitchen.

"Hi Tak!" Sandy's pleasant voice called. She smiled in return to the plump, happy woman but didn't feel it reach her eyes. She sat at one of the makeshift tables and ran a bare hand over the metal. Sandy walked over and sat across from her.

"What's wrong darling?"

"Everything." The word slipped out and she regretted it.

"Things can only get better from here, right?"

She looked up at the human's kind eyes and smiled again, for her. "Right."

"That's good. Do you need anything for Dib?"

'_He's not Dib.'_ But she didn't say it. Instead she shook her head, "No, he's fine. Still has a juice box and pack of crackers."

"Good. Just come to me if the dearie needs anything." She rose and returned to her counting of food items. So ignorant and happy. Tak envied and pitied her at once.

She returned to her room, finding Stem asleep. He looked so much like Dib when he slept, those horrid silver eyes hidden by the thin flesh of eyelid. Tak sat beside him and watched him sleep, ignoring the thick tears that escaped her eyes. Irkens don't cry, she scolded herself. But she did.

Tak leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, one hand resting near the sleeping human body. She found her thoughts turning to Zim. To his final moments. 'What will I do now?' What had he meant by that? She recalled the warm feeling of Dib's body as he embraced hers and she glanced down at him again, frowning.

"Where are you?" she whispered to the dark room, lit only by the small lantern she had been granted. "What will I do now..?"


	20. How Will I Know

"He's gone," Kai said after Tak opened her door, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

"The human? From the fan?"

He nodded, antennae lowered in mournful respect. She sighed and thanked him for telling her, closing the door again and turning to the just-waking human.

"Who?" Stem asked, sitting up and yawning.

"The human who fell on the fan blade."

"0h." He frowned, saddened by the news in a way she could never understand. She didn't have the empathy for others as the Souls did.

"Let's go get your breakfast."

He followed her down the kitchen and they were warmly greeted by Sandy, as always, and shunned by the others, also as always. Stem ate in silence in a corner table while Tak watched the other humans and Irkens. They were usually somewhat chatty and friendly, but today everyone was eating in silence. The whole mood of the room seemed sad. She thought of the dead human and figured it must have disheartened them greatly.

When Stem finished they returned to the room, where he spent most of his time because of the humans. Tak went on her usual patrols with Kai, and a few casual words were exchanged between them but nothing important.

When she returned later that day, she found Stem reading another book. He put it down immediately when she stepped into the room.

"Tak?"

"What?" She leaned against the counter and brushed at her boots, dust-smeared from walking through the grass outside.

"I lied."

She glanced up at him.

His face reddened and she could tell something was amiss.

"Dib.. was with me. For awhile."

Dib stirred, awakening from his sleep deep within his mind. He heard the Soul's thoughts and saw the plan he had been forming all day. 'No, stop it! You bastard, fucking stop!' he screamed and Stem shoved him further away from the front of his thoughts.

"He slipped away awhile after I got here.. But he told me something."

Tak stared at him silently and Dib writhed in agony, screaming at the Soul. Stem hesitated, distracted by the human but he finally spoke again.

"He said he loves you, but you should let him go. He wanted me to take care of you." Stem kept his eyes down, knowing they would betray his lies. Dib screamed louder and he cringed.

"He.. did?" Tak choked, feeling tears coming again. Stem nodded. She looked down for a long moment, then back at him.

"I loved him.. Why didn't you tell me he was gone?"

Stem lowered his head guiltily. Tak stared at him a long time, then slid off the counter and walked over. He glanced up as she knelt before him and took his chin in one bare hand, her skin cool to the touch.

"I loved him."

'I love you too,' Dib cried against the Soul's barrier. He struggled against it, wishing he could just touch her, just once.

"And.. you took him from me."

"I didn't mean to," Stem whimpered, averting his eyes. "It wasn't my fault.. They.."

"I know." She sat back, releasing him. He looked up and reached slowly, touching the side of her face.

"But.. _I_ love you. And I want to take care of you."

"I know," she repeated, letting the warmth of his palm sink into her flesh and reaching up to place her hand over the back of his. He smiled and Dib screamed and thrashed harder.

Tak looked up at him and curled her fingers around his hand, lowering it from her cheek.

"But I don't love you."

He frowned.

"I can be whatever you need.. I can make you love me."

She shook her head, moving his hand to his lap and releasing it.

"I don't want to love you."

His face fell in hurt and she felt bad, but it was the truth, no matter how cold. Tak left silently and he sat back, frowning.

'Damn you,' Dib cursed.

"Hush Dib."

'Fuck you.'

Stem resumed his reading.

Tak joined Skeen on his patrol and they walked silently around the outside parameters of the building. He knew better than to speak first.

Finally, on the second round, she sighed.

"He loves me."

"The Soul?"

She nodded, kicking over an empty cat food can.

"He wants me to love him."

"But you don't?"

"0f course not. He's not.."

"Dib."

"Yes."

Skeen nodded thoughtfully.

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know.. He says Dib is gone."

"So there's no real point for you to keep him around?"

"Yes."

"But we can't let him go."

She nodded slowly, appreciating Skeen's careful way of speaking and suggesting.

"I.. I don't want him around anymore. But.."

He waited.

"But I think.. Maybe I do want him."

"Do you want him because of him, or because of Dib?" he asked in an even tone.

"I don't know.. He's not Dib."

"But he looks like him. It's confusing?"

"Yes."

They said nothing for a long while, circling the building twice more and then settling on the back steps to watch the rear field.

"It's confusing," she repeated finally and he nodded.

"How will I know?" She turned mournful eyes to him and he just stared out into the field.

"I can't tell you that. I can't know for you."

She rose slowly. "Thank you Skeen."

He twitched his antennae in acknowledgement and she returned inside, kicking the can again on the way. Tak passed Soft Petals and the human with her and they smiled at her. They were holding hands. She smiled back, reflecting on how happy they seem together. Soul and human. So why not Soul and Irken?

She stopped outside her room, staring at the plain white door with a single picture of a cat on it and the words 'Exam Room Four'. It opened as she was reaching for the knob and Stem smiled at her with Dib's lips.

"Welcome back!" he said cheerily and she stepped past him without a word. He closed the door and turned to her.

"How did your patrol go?"

She glanced at him wordlessly, looking into those cold silver eyes. She couldn't read them like she could Dib's. She looked for gold, as she always did, and still found none.

He leaned against the counter beside her, still smiling, and she thought about the change she'd seen in him the past few weeks. He was almost.. aggressively friendly now, as opposed to how shy and frightened he had been. She preferred him the other way.

"Anything wrong, Tak?"

"Invader Tak," she said in a flat voice.

"Sorry.. Invader Tak?"

"No."

He nodded and brushed his hair back with long fingers.

"You know you can talk to me if you need to, right?"

She said nothing. He shifted closer, touching her shoulder. She let him, staring at the ground. He put his arm around her and seemed to be drawing her. She turned into his chest and let him hug her, closing her eyes in misery instead of the bliss she had once felt. Her lowered antennae brushed his chest and she listened to the steady beating of his strong human heart. She didn't want to think about who that heart now belonged to, but she did.

'_This is not Dib,'_ she told herself_. 'This is not his body.' _A tear slipped down her cheek and was absorbed by the human's shirt. He held her for a long while, enjoying the feeling in a very human way. She didn't hug him back, but didn't move away either. Just listened.

He finally released her and looked down, taking her chin and tipping her face up. She stared at him hollowly. He smiled.

"I love you," he repeated, loving the words and their human meaning. Loving the feeling they gave him. She said nothing and his gaze faltered slightly, but returned to brilliance as he stroked her cheek.

"You're beautiful."

She turned away and leaned against the counter again and he stood beside her, not knowing what to say.

'_I hate you,'_ Dib growled and he shoved the human further away.

'_Shut up,'_ he replied. _'I can't let you out so I'm doing my best for her. You should appreciate me.'_

'_You're a selfish fuck.'_

He didn't talk to the human anymore as he went back to his corner to read his book.

Tak left the room and he watched her leave from the corner of his eye.

'_She'll come around,'_ he thought, knowing Dib would hear but not really talking to him. Dib said nothing in reply, but Stem could feel the smug feelings from him and knew she wouldn't.

""""""

Tak looked up quickly as someone burst in through the front door. A human, covered in blood gushing from his head.

"Milo! What happened?" she demanded, running to him quickly. The humans and Irkens in the room gathered around instantly.

"Humans!" he gasped, leaning against the glass door and struggling for breath. "Fighters! For the Souls!"

"Like at the first place?" Kai asked, stepping up.

"Yeah." Milo was one of the original group of humans; one of the few left.

"Where?"

"Headed this way," he said, wild eyes darting to the window. "Ten minutes out. Quickly! I ran. Just.. escaped.." He started to pass out but someone grabbed him and dragged him away from the door.

"How did they find us?" Kai asked, gaze swinging around the crowd. More were entering the room, drawn by the commotion.

"What do we do? It's too late to move," Tak said quickly.

"We fight."

She stared up at him.

"You can't be serious. We're not prepared, there are not enough of us!"

"We'll fight or die," he growled and ran to gather the Irkens, leaving Tak to charge the humans. She looked around at the fearful and shocked faces and steeled herself.

"Get the young children and injured downstairs. Basement. Hide them." She thought quickly. "Every able human, grab whatever weapon you can and come back here. Go, now!"

The humans burst into action, leaving to all different directions. She turned and ran for her own room. She passed Soft Petals on the way, clutching her human in terror.

"Petals, can you fight?" she asked. The Soul stared at her.

"I…"

"You can't ask her to fight her own kind," the man said, trying to be stern but just as scared as her.

"Its fight or die," Tak snapped. "If she's on our side, then she'll fight."

She left them behind quickly, not having time to debate.

Tak threw open the door to her room and Stem looked up at her, startled.

"Souls are coming. Human fighters. We have to fight, now."

His face drained pale. "But.."

"You'll fight or die," she said, quickly growing hateful of the words. "Choose now."

He struggled for words. "I… I'll fight." He stood up, abandoning the book behind. "For you."

"Get downstairs and get a weapon." She touched her own gun and turned to prepare other humans. He caught her arm.

"Come with me. They won't trust me."

She started to argue, but saw the logic in it and nodded. They ran downstairs where the humans were gathering, arming themselves with anything they could find; pipes, knives, scalpels, boards. Tak snatched up a hunting knife someone had dropped and gave it to Stem.

"What? No, he'll kill us!" a man objected quickly. 0thers looked to see what was happening.

"He's on our side," Tak snapped.

"How do we know?" someone else spoke up. "How do we know he didn't tip them off?"

"Yeah, he'll turn on us!"

0ther mumbled agreements, all eyes turned on the Soul now.

"He's another fighter on our side, do you really want to risk losing that?" Tak growled and some of them quieted down. They began dispersing, returning upstairs as she had ordered earlier.

Stem lingered behind and followed Tak up, hiding in her fury from the humans who still disagreed.

When all of the humans had gathered she looked over them from her place atop the front desk. Some of the injured had joined the ranks, ignoring their wounds for the sake of being another body to fight. A sorry sight they were; thin and frightened. Yet they were ready to defend themselves and their kind.

"Humans!" Tak said loudly, silencing their murmurs. Eyes turned to her.

"Fight well, for your freedom and your future," she said, trying to be encouraging but feeling terrified herself. "We are few but we are strong in numbers. They are humans, just like you, but they have betrayed you! They are tools in the hands of the enemy. Break them! Show them what they deserve for deserting their own kind! Kill them all."

"Kill them all!" someone shouted and others took up the call until it became a chant. "Kill them all!"

Stem watched with nervous eyes from the back, staying well away from the humans and clutching his weapon with shaking hands. He looked at Tak but she didn't see him.

The humans moved outside in groups, where they were joined by the Irkens. Each group was assigned an Irken leader. Then, as a mass, they moved into the field; the direction the fighters were coming from. Tak could see them now, on the other side of the field. They were moving in lines, each human armored in helmets and bulletproof vests and carrying weapons. The front line had riot shields and batons, the second line guns, the third knives for close-fighting and finishing off.

Tak and Kai took their two groups, the strongest and most fit humans, to the front and the other groups lined up behind them. She glanced at Kai and he nodded to her. She wanted to look behind her for Stem, for what group he had been placed in, but resisted. She had to appear strong and focused for her group. They stood a long time, watching the humans approach.

They had but few guns among them, and those with firearms were moved to Tak and Kai's group, along with those with knives and pipes. Those with weaker weapons were moved to the back as they waited for the fighters to get close. Some humans had grabbed sheets of metal and wood to use as shields, and they, too, moved up to stand in front of everyone else. Tak admired their courage.

Stem was in Kai's group, standing beside a man with a gun. He was shaking, but watching the fighters steadily. Ready.

Halfway across the field, the fighters with the riot shields dropped to a knee and the humans with the firearms took aim.

Tak and Kai shouted a single order at their humans and they all knelt, the humans raising their own firearms over the shields in response. They stayed like that for what seemed like hours until someone from her group, an anxious man who couldn't take the tension, made the first shot.

Then hell broke.

The Soul-Fighters opened fire in unison and Tak shouted at her humans to fire. They did, and she saw two of the Fighters go down. She glanced around, watching five of her own humans fall to the ground.

Kai shouted something to his fighters and they began moving forward slowly, the ones with shields moving ahead of everyone and those with firearms inching along behind, peeking over the shields just enough to fire.

Tak began moving her group forward as well, and the other groups behind moved along the ground carefully.

"Kill them all!" Kai shouted in encouragement and his group took up the chant, then Tak's, then the others. Their voices were frightened, but loud and strong.

The Fighters began moving towards them as well, not wanting to be pushed back or encroached upon.

When the bullets stopped from both ways, the Irken's fighters threw down the shields and charged the others. They held their riot shields firm but Tak watched one of her humans swing their rifle over and smash the human in the head. He fell and his body and shield were trampled over. The Fighters tried to close the gap it made, but they were violently shoved back and some fell beneath the crushing Irken forces.

Then all order was lost as the groups behind surged forward. They were outnumbered, but fierce and fast.

Tak, along with several other Irkens, rose on their mechanical extensions and darted through the chaos, firing and stabbing at the Fighters.

Tak found herself on the outside of it all at one point, after chasing down a fleeing Fighter, and looked over the battle. She saw Kai, blood-streaked and shouting, stabbing a burly male to death and then spinning on another to do the same. She looked for Stem, but didn't see him and couldn't waste any more time not fighting. She plunged back into the battle, screaming encouragement to her humans and curses to the others.

They were winning. For all impossible purposes, they were winning.

As she put her gun to the head of a Fighter holding down one of her men and fired, she felt something grab at her foot. She kicked at it and looked down to see Stem, staring up at her fearfully. He was bleeding freely from a knife slice to his chest and for a moment she feared for him. But it didn't seem serious and she offered him a brief smile before leaping away to help another struggling human of her's.

The battle seemed to drag on forever. Humans, both her's and the Soul's, dropped at a steady pace. She saw Skeen go down but didn't have time to mourn, knowing she would later.

Finally, the Fighters began to back off. They called for surrender but the humans shouted never almost in unison.

Tak backed off the front lines, along with Kai. They joined up and watched as their humans celebrated the victory, throwing rocks and insults after the fleeing Fighters. Their numbers had been greatly reduced, but so had the Fighters'.

When the enemies were out of sight, the humans quickly began assessing their dead and wounded. Some ran inside to get sheets and boards for make-shift stretchers.

"We have to move, now," Kai said. "They'll be back with more."

"We can't move the injured far."

"We may have to leave some behind.."

Tak nodded sadly and left him to look for Stem. She found him among the injured.

"Tak," he moaned, reaching out for her when she got close. She knelt next to him and looked him over quickly. He had been stabbed twice in the side but it didn't seem too serious. Blood-flow had almost stopped and someone had already given him a cloth to press against it.

"You're alright," she said to him and he tried to sit up. She pushed him back down.

"Don't move. They'll bring a stretcher." He closed his eyes, gasping in pain and then quieted.

"I have to go help; I'll come see you inside." She left him, knowing he would be taken care of.

When the wounded had all been moved inside, Tak fluttered throughout them, helping with bandaging and giving encouragement and comfort where she could. She didn't think of Stem until hours later, when all was settled down.

Kai grabbed her on her way to see the Soul and she had to attend an emergency meeting to decide what to do.

At the end of it all, the choice had been made to move the uninjured humans immediately and transport the injured as best they could. Kai began helping the women and children pack supplies while the men and other Irkens fashioned carriers for the injured. Some were too bad off to be moved, and more choices had to be made.

But Tak wasn't involved in those.

She returned to her room, finding Stem lain on his blanket on the floor. His injuries were bandaged and he was sleeping. She walked in quietly and sat beside him, looking her poor Dib's beaten body. He was worse than she though, but nothing fatal.

"Tak?" Stem mumbled, stirring when she adjusted one of his bandages. She looked at his face and he was staring hazily at the ceiling.

"I'm here."

"It hurts," he said quietly. "Like nothing I've experienced before.."

"I'll get you some medication when we move."

He closed his eyes again and lifted a hand. She took it and held it a long time, stroking the back of it with a thumb and thinking about Dib.

"Tak?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you.."

"I know." She looked down and sighed softly, releasing his hand. He reached up and touched her cheek, wet once again with tears. She pulled away, rejecting the touch and he lowered his hand sadly.

"Why?" she asked bitterly, glaring up at him.

"Because.. You're an amazing creature. And.. And I feel Dib's love for you. It's mine now."

Tak sat in silence a long moment, thinking about that. Dib's love.

Stem hooked an arm under himself and sat up on his elbows to look at her, the strain showing on his face. Tak looked away from the handsome abdomen muscles peeking from beneath the bandages.

He started to say something but she turned her face away quickly. He was silent, looking down. And then she was there. She was everywhere. Her mouth, her body, all so soft and warm and wonderful.

He laid back in surprise, hard enough to jostle his injuries and cause pain but he didn't care. Her hands, bare and beautiful, roamed and explored as they had always wanted to. Her lips found everywhere they wanted and he didn't suffer a moment of it.

She had her way with him, and he was nothing more than a helpless victim. He didn't understand the odd feelings and sensations, but he enjoyed them. Nothing had ever been like this as a Flower.

And Dib watched all, silent in his cage of misery and loneliness.

Tak scooted away from Stem when she finished, wiping her mouth and panting softly. Her antennae laid slack against her head, slightly horrified at what she had just done.. But it was good. It was Dib. But it was not.

Stem said nothing, just stared at the ceiling in shock, his own rapid breath hurting his side but he couldn't stop it.

"You're bleeding," Tak said, getting up slowly and stepping over to the counter. She took down more bandages and returned to the Soul. He laid still for her as she removed his blood-and-sweat sodden bandages and replaced them with clean ones.

She sat back on her knees and stared at him. He sat up carefully and stared back. He wanted more. He leaned towards her, reaching a hand slowly to touch her jaw. She let him, leaning in herself. They kissed, soft and sweet and gentle. But it was cold and empty. She closed her eyes, hand wrapping around the smooth object in her cast-off weapons belt.

He started to lean away, then thought twice and kissed her a little harder, letting human instinct take over. Tak let him, kissing him back as she drew the knife without a sound. His hand so warm on her cheek suddenly clenched in pain and she leaned back, leaving it to clutch empty air.

He stared at her, eyes shocked and confused. His breath wheezed from his lungs in a ragged exhale and he looked down.

She released the knife handle, having plunged it as deep as it would go into his stomach, just below the bone. Stem blinked once and coughed, blood spattering his lips and her lap. He looked back up at her, still confused and she just stared.

The human body fell to his side, head thumping against the wall. Hands grasped uselessly at the knife, pulling it out of the tender flesh and dropping it. He pressed his hands to the wound, trying to stem the blood flow, but it was useless. The knife severed the celiac artery cleanly.

Stem coughed again, spattering more blood but the majority of it spilled from the small wound and filled up his abdominal cavity. His eyes turned to her once more.

Dib screamed, beating against the walls of his own mind. Suddenly, Stem stepped away and Dib burst forth into his mind, ignoring the agonizing pain and fear. A hand lifted purely out of will, pale and shaking. Tak looked at it coldly.

"Tak," blood spilled from his lips with the word. "My.. Tak. Beautiful.."

She looked up at his eyes again. Gold flecked the pale silver. She felt her heart clench and swayed, eyes blanking out.

"Tak," he whispered again and she caught herself, reaching and taking the hand quickly.

"Dib?" she choked and his lips twitched in smile. She gripped the cold hand tightly and moved closer, touching his cheek. "My Dib..?"

"My Tak.." He coughed once more and his eyes dulled quickly as his life flow began to lessen. Tak leaned against him, embracing him and whispering his name. His hand fell limply from her and she looked up to watch him die.

She sat in his blood, arms wrapped tightly around his neck and face buried against his chest. His silent chest, where life had once so energetically been. She couldn't cry.

After awhile, she sat beside him and looked down at the blood covering her uniform. She looked at the blood covering the knife. She reached out and touched the small bit of silver showing through all the red and maroon.

"My Dib," she whispered.


	21. Inhabited

Tak stared out over the crystal lake, well enough away from the water to avoid its painful touch but close enough to enjoy the beauty of it. Something she had never seen on Irk.

She reflected on all that had happened and all that was yet to come for herself, and for the humans. It had been months since the last battle, and they had traveled far to this place in the mountains. It was untouched by the Souls, likely unknown of so far. 0f course, like everything else, it wouldn't last, but for now it worked perfectly. They had picked up more humans along the way, and her Tallest had finally contacted them with promises of reinforcements.

Kai stepped up behind her and smiled.

"Are you the smeet-keeper for the day?" he asked teasingly.

She smiled herself, shifting her eyes from the five young children playing by the water's edge to look up at him.

"No. But they are amusing. Human smeets are so different from our own." She looked back to them almost wistfully.

Kai touched her shoulder. "Perhaps that is something to think about for the future."

Tak nodded slowly and he left. She leaned against a tree and placed a hand on her swollen abdomen, feeling the small life pulsing within.

"Perhaps."


End file.
